The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is revising its electronic filing format for particular data collections to make it easier for filers to submit information and for data analyzers to use that information. This new rule, which was passed June 20, 2019, will modernize FERC’s data collection, which will in turn increase efficiency in regulatory filings and business information processing while furthering transparency and over time decreasing costs in preparing the data for submission.

With compliance dates approaching, reviewing the SEC’s mandate for operating companies and funds that they report their financial information in Inline XBRL (iXBRL) is important. These requirements date back to June 2018, when the SEC passed rules seeking to modernize and simplify financial reporting for these filers. Unlike traditional XBRL which produces a XML document containing only tagged, structured data that is difficult for a human reader to understand and interpret, iXBRL involves embedding XBRL data directly into an HTML filing so that the disclosure document is both human-readable as a formatted report of financial information and machine-readable since the tagged data can be collected and used in subsequent analyses in any number of ways. Using iXBRL improves the data’s usefulness, timeliness, and quality, which benefits investors, regulators, market participants, and other data consumers. Inline XBRL also reduces burdens and complexity to registrants and preparers as only one document containing both the formatted report and the structured data must be produced.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2019 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

Version 4.26a of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release corresponds to EDGAR Release 19.1 and contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View, general EDGAR forms, and XBRL. Additionally, this version contains support for the US GAAP 2019 taxonomy.

The XBRL US Center for Data Quality has released the eighth set of rules and is seeking comment during a public exposure period ending February 1, 2019. The Data Quality Committee rules aim to help filers limit mistakes and avoid data inconsistencies that can adversely affect analysis of reported financial information. This release includes rules for issuers using either the US-GAAP or IFRS taxonomies.

The XBRL US Center for Data Quality has published the seventh set of rules to provide guidance and aid for issuers in identifying errors in their XBRL SEC filings. The Data Quality Committee rules aim to help filers limit mistakes and avoid data inconsistencies that can adversely affect analysis of reported financial information. The seventh release of rules includes guidance for issuers using the US-GAAP taxonomies.

Last month, XBRL US introduced a free application program interface (API) standard as a Proposed Release. The API is designed to help programmers create, extract, and analyze XBRL formatted data. It is meant to be a standard that acts as a software intermediary, allowing applications to communicate with one another. Investors and analysts alike can use the XBRL API to gain access to and manipulate XBRL data, both historical data and data that is up-to-date. The API will work with any XBRL database or taxonomy.

On December 6th, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation released the IFRS Taxonomy 2018 – Proposed Update 2 General Improvements.

The SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) recently analyzed XBRL exhibits submitted by issuers complying with the 2009 Interactive Data rules to file financial statement information in an XBRL format. The purpose of the analysis was to determine if IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) filers were being consistent with their use of custom tags with US-GAAP (US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) filers during this first year of required XBRL filings.

The IFRS Foundation has published a proposed update to the IFRS Taxonomy 2018, Common Practice (IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement). This Proposed Update is one of multiple updates released throughout the year to reflect amendments to International Financial Reporting Standards. The updates can represent changes to common practice elements, taxonomy architecture, or annual improvements that may include refinements to taxonomy data models in order to support consistent tagging or improvements that better reflect presentation and disclosure requirements.

On October 1, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains changes to the N-CEN and N-PORT EDGAR forms as well as improvements to EDGAR XBRL validation in addition to other changes.

On August 17th, the SEC voted to approve amendments to certain disclosure requirements that have become duplicative, overlapping, or outdated. These changes were proposed in light of other disclosure requirements, modifications to US-GAAP, or developments in the information environment. The SEC is also referring to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) particular disclosure requirements that overlap with but require information incremental to GAAP. These requirements will be considered for incorporation into US GAAP.

On June 28, 2018, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to the XBRL reporting requirements that would require registrants to use the Inline XBRL format for the submission of financial statement information and fund risk/return summary information.

On June 28, 2018, the SEC held an open meeting in which they presented several final, approved rules and new rule proposals. Taken together, these changes represent progress toward many of the Commission’s priorities.

On May 31, 2018 the XBRL US Center for Data Quality has released the sixth set of rules to provide guidance and aid for issuers in identifying errors in their XBRL SEC filings. The Data Quality Committee rules aim to help filers limit mistakes and avoid data inconsistencies that can adversely affect analysis of reported financial information. The sixth release of rules includes guidance for issuers using either the US-GAAP or IFRS taxonomies.