Benefits and Uses

XBRL offers major benefits at all stages of business reporting and analysis.  The benefits are seen in automation, cost saving, faster, more reliable and more accurate handling of data, improved analysis and in better quality of information and decision-making. 

XBRL enables producers and consumers of financial data to switch resources away from costly manual processes, typically involving time-consuming comparison, assembly and re-entry of data.  They are able to concentrate effort on analysis, aided by software which can validate and manipulate XBRL information.  As just one example, searches for particular information which might in the past have taken hours can be completed with XBRL in a fraction of a second.

Those who stand to benefit include all who collect business data, including governments, regulators, economic agencies, stock exchanges, financial information companies and the like, and those who produce or use it, including accountants, auditors, company managers, financial analysts, investors and creditors.  Among those who can take advantage of XBRL include accountancy software vendors, the financial services industry, investor relations companies and the information technology industry.

The XBRL and Business section explains how particular types of organisation can benefit from XBRL.

The use of XBRL does not imply an enforced standardisation of financial reporting.  On the contrary, the language is a flexible one which is intended to support all current aspects of reporting in different countries and industries.  Its extensible nature means that it can be adjusted to meet particular business requirements, even at the individual organisation level.