What is XBRL?

What is XBRL?

Extensible Business Reporting Language, formerly code-named Financial

Reporting Markup Language, is a freely available electronic language for

financial reporting. It is based on the industry standard Extensible Markup

Language (XML). The XBRL framework provides the financial community with

a standards-based method to prepare, publish in a variety of formats, reliably

extract and automatically exchange financial statements and the information

they contain. XBRL is not about establishing new accounting standards but

enhancing the usability of the current ones in an electronic commerce

environment.

How will XBRL be used?

XBRL will be used to digitally publish financial statements that are

issued to external users by companies and government agencies. An XBRL-based

financial statement is a digital version of a paper-based financial statement

and includes a balance sheet, an income statement, a statement of equity,

a statement of cash flows, notes to the financial statements and an accountant's

report. XBRL for Financial Statements is the first product in a future

family of XBRL-based products.

What are the main benefits of XBRL for government?

* Allows for better management decisions for the agency through easier

analysis of internal financial information.

* Facilitates the move to Internet- enabled financial systems.

* Frees government resources and reduces costs for the preparation

of internal financial statements.