What are the options for XBRL reporting?

There are mainly three options you can think for XBRL reporting

• External - typically this is outsource to third party
  • Expensive, restricted timelines, additional review processes
  • Outsourcer is still responsible for accuracy of filing and related compliance
• Internal - this can be Bolt-on XBRL tool at the end of the reporting process
  • Addresses XBRL tagging and filing at the end of the reporting process
  • Possible lower cost but can be inefficient and time consuming due to disparate systems
• Internal - this can be your Integrated XBRL reporting
  • Integrates XBRL into an organizationfs financial close & reporting process
  • Enhance existing filing process to seamlessly integrate XBRL in a unified environment

XBRL Terminology

Below are some brief definitions of common terms in XBRL reporting.

 XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a standard created by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) which allows a user to describe the structure of data. Once the data has been marked up, computer programs and software can intelligently process this data.

 XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a form of XML designed specifically for the financial industry to increase efficiency, productivity and transparency in financial reporting.

 Tags (markup language) are like bar codes used to markup and define data. In XBRL these tags can identify, describe and provide contextual information for each piece of information. These tags can be understood by a range of software applications allowing data to interface with databases, financial reporting systems and spreadsheets.

 Taxonomy is a system or dictionary which contains and organizes all of the tags used to markup a document. Currently XBRL International, the SEC and other organizations are funding the building of standardized taxonomies for the different financial industries in the United States. They are organized under the broad title of U.S.-GAAP/FRIS (U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles/Financial Reporting Instance Standards).

 Instance document is a document where financial data has been tagged using XBRL taxonomies.

 GAAP is the common set of accounting principles, standards and procedures that companies use to compile their financial statements. GAAP is a combination of authoritative standards (set by policy boards) and simply the commonly accepted ways of recording and reporting accounting information.

A more extensive glossary is available here

XBRL & Reporting

If you are still in R11i , you might be heard something like "XBRL", which is technically known as eXtensible Business ReportingLanguage (XBRL).

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an open specification for software that uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) data tags, together with a taxonomy, to describe business reporting, including financial information.

XBRL and XML

An XBRL taxonomy is a standard description and classification system for the contents of accounting reports, and both kind of reporting can be easily performed.

• Business Reporting
• Including important financial information

XBRL Financial Reporting Benefits

• Achieve greater transparency and auditability of your company's financial information for better auditability.
• Directly integrated with FSG – enabling XBRL Financial Reporting at the source:
  • Reuse existing FSG reports and components
  • Link your unique chart of accounts to the standardized elements of an XBRL taxonomy
  • Submit your XBRL Financial Reports in all of the FSG output options

How to Set Up XBRL Financial Reporting in EBS

We can generate XBRL output with the FSG(Financial Statement Generator), you must load one or more taxonomies into your Oracle instance. Once loaded, you select the taxonomy to use for a row set then assign XBRL elements to FSG row definitions.

Take a note , you will get taxonomies available from a number of sources,one of such is at www.xbrl.org.

Download a Taxonomy to your Oracle Instance (Adopted from Documentation)

1. Create a new directory on the same server where the database is to be used for storing taxonomy files. The directory can be an existing directory but it is recommended you create a new one. Using SQL*PLUS run create directory xmldir as <directory name>.
2. Make the directory public for read access. Using SQL*PLUS run grant read on directory xmldir to public with grant option.
3. Place the taxonomy files (usually there are six) in the directory. You can transfer them using FTP, copy, or download from a url.
4. Determine if the codeset of the taxonomy files are in the same codeset as that used in the database. If they are not the same, you must convert the taxonomy files so that they use the same codeset as the database instance.

Loading XBRL Taxonomies

1. Launch the XBRL – Load Taxonomy program from the Submit Request window. The program has three parameters:

• Taxonomy Name: Enter a unique name for the taxonomy.
• Taxonomy xsd File Name: Enter the file name, with or without the .xsd extension.
• Taxonomy Description: Enter a description for the taxonomy.

2. If a taxonomy has imports (links to other taxonomies), you must load the imports first then load the parent taxonomy.

Oracle GL 11.5.10.2 and XBRL

XBRL Publisher is a module in XML Publisher which parses the XBRL taxonomies, extracts XML schema from Oracle Reports RDFs and XML Publisher data templates, defines mapping between taxonomy elements and elements in XML-output reports and at last generate XBRL report concurrents to create XBRL instances.

Reference Notes

• Note:239123.1 :XBRL Support in Oracle General Ledger
• Note 246050.1 :About Oracle Report Generator in Financials Family Pack E
• Note 277877.1 :Setup Checklist for eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) FSG reports
• Note:297280.1 :FSG Reports Using XML Publisher

How Oracle Supports XBRL?

For you accountants, XBRL should be part of your vocabulary since the SEC has mandated that all public companies use XBRL to report financial results. As of June 2009, large accelerated filers were mandated to use XBRL, and all other public companies must comply by June 2011.

For you non-accountants, XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It's a form of the XML language used for electronic communication of business and financial data. Simply put, it's reporting electronically. Just like PDFs or spreadsheets are a type of output, XBRL is another output option in electronic form. For more information, you can visit http://www.xbrl.org.

Seamus represents Oracle as a member of the XBRL Consortium. In Seamus' usual way of answering my questions, he gave me my answer plus some interesting tidbits that I'd like to share.

XBRL International is an independent organization that works closely with IASB. In fact, the IASB and XBRL folks all sit in the same building in the U.K. There are different XBRL jurisdictions for different countries and regions. The U.S. uses a U.S. GAAP version of XBRL while the rest of the world uses IFRS. China even uses an IFRS version of XBRL which was interesting to me because China is a Communist country using a capitalist accounting principle. China has large stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong so they need to require IFRS in order to attract capital. Talk about capitalist!

Question: How does Oracle support XBRL reporting?
Answer: The latest XBRL 2.1 specifications are supported by Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting, which is included with the Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning products. Hyperion stores not only the financial balances needed to produce financial reports but also the disclosures and footnotes that you need to produce your 10K and 8K filings. Therefore, the logical extension is to produce XBRL-compliant reports from your consolidated data. The designer can take a report, attach XBRL metadata, then export the report as an instance document.

As you may or not know, the current XBRL taxonomies are not comprehensive across all industries. For example, when United Airlines needed to disclose fuel costs which were high last year, there was no term for it in the taxonomy. They needed the ability to extend the taxonomy but their current software didn't support it.

Oracle has teamed up with UBmatrix, the leading provider of XBRL-based information exchange solutions, to offer capabilities to extend taxonomies.

However, the real strength of Hyperion is its ability to automate the close-to-report cycle, including the automatic tagging of financial items. A financial close management solution was showcased at the last Oracle Open World conference. It is not available yet, but you can read more about it from an analyst:
http://www.ventanaresearch.com/blog/commentblog.aspx?id=3335