Merrill Experts: Financial Services

Thursday, September 8, 2011

This Week in XBRL: Bryant University Hosts 11th Annual XBRL Conference

In a continued effort to educate on the development of XBRL technology in industries such as financial services (and beyond), Merrill Corporation will share articles and columns published on the topic.

Today, XBRL is accepted as the standard for everything from finance reporting to daily news, but has it always been that way?

At the end of this month, Bryant University, in Rhode Island, will be hosting the 11^th annual XBRL Conference. The topic this year is, “Your Clients Begin XBRL Filings Soon - Are YOU Ready?” As one might expect, the conference theme implies the wide-spread use of XBRL, as well as the fact that there have been 10 previous annual conferences. We couldn’t help but wonder what the theme was in the past.

With a little digging, we got our answers.

During Bryant University's first XBRL conference in 2001, the event was organized by Professor Saaed Roohani, who has been said to be at the heart of XBRL since its creation:

One of Bryant’s own, Accounting Professor Saaed Roohani, has been at the forefront of the XBRL movement since the idea was conceived in 1998. At the time, he was one of only a handful of U.S. academicians who researched and taught the then-new standardized reporting language. Roohani recognized its importance in uniting world markets.

The theme that year? The XBRL Educational Resource Center, a website and academic program launched by Roohani.

The theme, and certainly the aesthetic style, of the conference has changed consistently over the years, but the effort to further the spread and education of XBRL has never wavered. We are impressed with Bryant University’s early adoption of XBRL tagging, and are further impressed by their commitment to continue it.

-----

Merrill Corporation is proud to offer XBRL Complete, a suite of services that meets - and has options to exceed – the mandated requirements for XBRL for mutual funds. For more information, please click here or call 866-367-9110.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

This Week in XBRL: IFRS Announces Interim Releases

As part of an update to the XBRL infrastructure of the 2011 IFRS Taxonomy, the IFRS has released a few interim releases in order to keep up to date with recent accounting standard changes.

These interim releases, instead of waiting for an annual Taxonomy update, will allow companies to gain access to new reporting tags. The IFRS hopes that this will prevent those companies from using out-of-date tags. The released tags affect:

Presentation of Items of Other Comprehensive Income (amendments to IAS 1) and IAS 19 Employee Benefits, both issued by the International Accounting Standards Board in June. Only a few weeks prior, the IFRS Foundation also published an interim release to provides tags related to IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement and IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities, issued by IASB in May.

These interim releases allow for electronic reporting, another initiative which may lead to a decrease in erroneous tag usage. The IFRS plans to include these interim changes in the 2012 IFRS Taxonomy, due in the first quarter of next year.

-----

Thursday, August 25, 2011

This Week in XBRL: What Makes an XBRL Expert?

The Global XBRL Team at Ernst & Young is looking for an XBRL specialist. We already have a job, but we thought it would be interesting to see what qualifications are required for the lofty title of ‘XBRL Specialist.’ The job posting begins with the kind of language one would expect:

Candidates for this role need a real enthusiasm for the technical aspects of financial reporting. They should be able to communicate fluently, both written and verbal, to audiences in accountancy circles.

After that, the group gets a little more specific.

The role:

Internationally focused
IFRS-focused XBRL Taxonomy design and review
Tagging of model IFRS financial statements
Analysing and consuming data from IFRS statements in XBRL
Writing and testing business rules
Evaluating software
Training and supporting clients required to report their IFRS financial statements in XBRL
Supporting the IASB, EBA and related international working groups.

What you will need:

A degree educated candidate, achieving 2:1 or above
Qualified accountant (ACA or CIMA) with good exam record
Experience working on the production of statutory accounts in IFRS
Flexibility for frequent international travel
Real technical facilitation experience - advantageous
A real enthusiasm for information technology
Broad experience applied in problem solving
Highly PC literate, with a knowledge of MS-Excel & Word
Assertive and proactive approach to the delivery/implementation of projects
Demonstrable project management experience a real advantage
Real technical facilitation experience an advantage
Strong communication skills written and verbal, communicating at all levels, in a clear, concise and fluent manner as dictated by the needs of the audience.

Intimidated? One thing you may notice with a second look is that very few of these requirements involve XBRL. One would assume that a job posting for an XBRL specialist would ask for someone to be a specialist in XBRL! Perhaps there is a reason for this oversight. Perhaps, XBRL isn’t that complicated after all.

FierceComplianceIT.com has collated a list of ten tips for anyone wanting to be an XBRL expert. The most important tip is number 4.

Recognize that XBRL is simply a different way of expressing the same financial information. - The SEC, HTML and XBRL filing formats are two different mediums for expressing exactly the same information. With the XBRL format, however, you can use automated computer processes to check that information ticks and ties correctly.

XBRL can be a daunting language to approach blindly, and the year two requirements have many companies and consultants scratching their heads. With a little research, a little help, and a little planning, you can breeze through your XBRL filing this year.

-----