XBRL
XBRLAlso called eXtensible Business Reporting Language, inline XBRL, iXBRL
XBRL is an open data standard that tags each figure in a financial or regulatory report with a defined meaning from a taxonomy. Software can then read, validate and compare the data. Securities regulators, banking supervisors and tax authorities use it for filings, including EU bank returns and listed company accounts.
How it works
A regulator publishes a taxonomy, a dictionary of concepts with validation rules. The firm maps its ledger and risk data to those concepts and produces a file in which each number carries a tag, a period and a unit. Inline XBRL embeds the tags in a readable HTML report. The regulator's system runs the validation rules on receipt and rejects files that fail.
XBRL turns reports into data that supervisors can analyse at scale. Errors that once hid in PDFs now surface as validation failures or outliers across peer firms. For banks, the EBA's COREP and FINREP returns are built on an XBRL taxonomy. For listed companies, tagged annual reports let investors and regulators compare filings directly.
The rules
Requires operating companies and funds to embed XBRL tags in their HTML filings, phased in from 2019 by filer size.
SEC registrants filing financial statements and fund risk/return dataRequires annual financial reports in XHTML, with IFRS consolidated statements tagged in Inline XBRL, for financial years from 1 January 2020.
Issuers with securities on EU regulated marketsCommon questions
What is the difference between XBRL and Inline XBRL?
Standard XBRL is a machine-readable file of tagged facts. Inline XBRL embeds the same tags inside a human-readable HTML document, so one file serves both people and software.
Who uses XBRL for regulatory reporting?
Securities regulators such as the SEC and EU national authorities use it for company filings. The EBA and national supervisors use it for COREP and FINREP bank returns, and tax authorities such as HMRC use Inline XBRL for company accounts.
What is an XBRL taxonomy?
A taxonomy is the dictionary behind XBRL. It defines each reportable concept, its data type and relationships, and the validation rules a filing must pass. Regulators update taxonomies when reporting requirements change.
