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XBRL (EXTENSIBLEBUSINESSREPORTINGLANGUAGE) 871Figure 8: XBRL example.type = “ci:balanceSheet.assets”> indicates that the data
after the tag relates to assets on the balance sheet. Figure 8
shows an example of an XBRL instance document. (Please
note that all the examples used in this chapter are based
on version 1.0 of XBRL. The XBRL specification version
2.0 was publicly announced on Dec. 14, 2001. This specifi-
cation is to be used to create XBRL taxonomies. However,
at the time this chapter was prepared no XBRL taxonomy
based on version 2.0 was available. Version 2.0 is signif-
icantly different from version 1.0, but the key concepts
described in this chapter are still applicable.)
The sample XBRL document in Figure 8 is based on
the XBRL taxonomy for business reporting of commercial
and industrial companies, under U.S. Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles (US GAAP), dated 2000-07-31. Fig-
ure 9 shows a part of this taxonomy. (A new version of this
taxonomy was nearing completion at the time this chapter
was written. The new version will have significant differ-
ences from the version illustrated in this chapter; however,
the key concepts discussed here still apply.)
A XBRL taxonomy has several advantages. First, it
makes it possible to bring the semantics of financial infor-
mation to the surface, making it more transparent. Sec-
ond, an XBRL taxonomy can make it easier to analyze how
similar companies applied various accounting rules or
methods. Third, an XBRL taxonomy provides contextual
information that can enhance information search using
XBRL-based search engines to obtain more complete and
more accurate search results. Finally, an XBRL taxonomycan be used for converting an XBRL document based on
one country’s generally accepted accounting principles
(GAAP) to an XBRL document based on another coun-
try’s GAAP. For example, an XBRL document prepared
by using a U.S. taxonomy can be converted to an XBRL
document based on International Accounting Standards
(IAS) taxonomy. This may become an important function
because hundreds of national and industry taxonomies
are being developed.
At present, several taxonomies have been developed
such as US GAAP CI, the XBRL taxonomy for busi-
ness reporting of commercial and industrial companies
under US GAAP, the XBRL GL (General Ledger) tax-
onomy, and the IAS GAAP CI taxonomy. Also, several
national taxonomies are under development: Canadian
GAAP CI, German GAAP CI, Australian GAAP CI, New
Zealand GAAP CI, and Singapore GAAP CI. Also, sev-
eral prominent organizations have announced commit-
ments to XBRL, including the Australian Prudential Reg-
ulatory Authority, UK Inland Revenue, U.S. FDIC, NAS-
DAQ, Microsoft, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and
Reuters. Information about XBRL taxonomies may be
found at http://www.xbrl.org, XBRL Home Page (2000).
Information about the Australian Prudential Regula-
tory Authority may be found at http://www.apra.gov.au,
APRA (n.d.). Information related to Microsoft’s com-
mitment to XBRL may be found at Microsoft’s web
site, http://www.microsoft.com/msft, Microsoft (n.d.).
Information on companies and organizations that