As producers of business information, members should be aware of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and the benefits it offers.

XBRL is the language for the electronic communication of financial and business data. It is designed to solve the problems associated with the provision of electronic information that requires collation when such information has been generated by various software. Being an open standard and free from licence fees, XBRL offers benefits such as cost savings, greater efficiency, improved accuracy and reliability to users and suppliers of financial data.

To promote the benefits of XBRL, and to support its adoption globally, a not-for-profit consortium of 250 international companies and agencies was created. CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia are supporting the international initiative by forming XBRL Australia to promote the new reporting language in Australia.

XBRL Australia consists of three main players:

• major consumers of business data — the government, banks, investors, stock exchanges and intermediaries
• major producers of business information — accountants and their clients / employers
• software companies that provide the systems from which the data is extracted

Our initiatives have led to a concerted movement within the public sector to embrace XBRL. The following regulators and organisations now use or endorse XBRL:

• Australian Prudential Regulation Authority — to improve reporting processes
• Australian Tax Office — as content standard for the blueprint of its electronic filing 
• Australian Government Information Management Office — to transfer data efficiently throughout the public sector
• Australian Accounting Standards Board 
• Australian Stock Exchange — for its revamped Company Announcements Platform

Recently, XBRL has received the support of major accounting software vendors MYOB and Quicken which have joined XBRL Australia with a view to seeing how the new reporting language might improve their products.

It is our aim to see XBRL become the global standard used for preparing business reports in the near future. We believe this is likely as more suppliers of business reports will realise the time and costs savings from sending information to users of financial data such as regulators, stock exchanges, lenders and analysts.

It is difficult to pin-point when XBRL will be broadly used, but we believe it will be another two-three years.

If you would like to know more about XBRL, please visit the XBRL International website or the XBRL Australia website.