(4 September 2013) - XBRL International is pleased to announce that the XBRL Standards Board, at the request of the Rendering Working Group, has approved as an updated Public Working Draft (PWD) the Table Linkbase 1.0. 

The table linkbase specification provides a way to define the structure of tables for the presentation and/or entry of XBRL instance data. Facts in an XBRL instance exist in a highly dimensional space, and the table linkbase specifies a projection of these facts onto a table. The composition of the axes of the table indicate how the dimensions, periods and other constraints on the data are arranged into the table.

A table linkbase can be used to define a standard view of XBRL instance data for a given taxonomy, or a view of the data in a specific instance.

The Specification as well as the updated conformance suite can be found on the xbrl.org website at http://www.xbrl.org/SpecPWDs or at the following location directly: 

Specification:  http://xbrl.org/Specification/table-linkbase/PWD-2013-08-28/table-linkbase-PWD-2013-08-28.html

Feedback is requested and should be sent to rendering-feedback@xbrl.org

The XBRL Standards Board (XSB) has approved, at the request of the Rendering Working Group, the Inline XBRL 1.1 Candidate Recommendation as well the Call for Implementations.  The comment and response period will remain open until September 6, 2013 barring any notification of intent to submit an implementation.  Please notify the Rendering Working Group immediately of any comments or intentions to submit an implementation at rendering-feedback@xbrl.org.

Version 1.1 of the Specification for Inline XBRL contains three new features:

1. the addition of an extended mechanism, ix:continuation, for splitting text content within a document;

2. the addition of nesting of ix:nonFraction and ix:fraction elements; and

3. the addition of support for fact-explanatoryFact links, by replacing the existing mechanism for structuring footnotes with a one based on a new element, ix:relationship.

Minor changes have been made to the grammar and layout of the specification in order to improve consistency and accuracy, but in other aspects, the specification has remained unchanged semantically from version 1.0.

There is a 16 September deadline for submitting candidates for multiple volunteer leadership opportunities, including the Board of Directors and three standing committees: Membership Development, Nominations and Finance & HR.

Download the calls for candidates:

• XII Board of Directors
• XII Standing Committees, including the Membership Development Committee, Nominations Committee and Finance & HR Committee

You may submit either questions regarding the election process or your application materials to nominate@xbrl.org. 

(15 July, 2013) -- The XBRL International Best Practices Board (BPB) has coordinated and prepared comments on the Integrated Reporting Framework Consultation Draft (CD). Read the XII Response. The Framework provides businesses for a way to report how an organization’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects lead to the creation of value over the short, medium and long term.

(June 28, 2013) - The Quality Control Process for Taxonomy Development highlights three key contributing factors which influence the Quality in an XBRL Taxonomy, including: 

• Project Governance Structure 
• Iterative Processes for Taxonomy Development, Test and Review; and
• Skilled Resources in areas such as domain and XBRL technology experts.

Architectural issues at the design stage, internal and external review cycles and quality control check-lists foriterative testing are included as examples of framework components. Finally, this paper provides a sample list and description of supportive documents that enable this taxonomy quality control process to become a best practice.

The paper uses the Japan EDINET and UKHMRC taxonomies as case studies.

(17 June, 2013) -- XII is pleased to provide the following update on the develpoment of the Table Linkbase Specification:

Background:

The table linkbase specification provides a way to define the structure of tables for the presentation and/or entry of XBRL instance data. Rather than providing a simple arrangement of concepts as a hierarchy, it enables the definition of tables with multiple axes. The components of these axes are not limited to individual items; instead, they can be defined in terms of a combination of dimensions of any property that can be used to identify the financial facts represented by taxonomies. A table represents a subset of the complete model provided by a taxonomy, and may be used to represent reporting requirements; to represent a view of the data for analytical purposes; or to present an instance document in a certain way. Tables identify the data to be rendered, its order and a basic graphical arrangement.

An overview of Table Linkbase: http://www.xbrl.org/wgn/table-linkbase-overview/pwd-2013-01-16/table-linkbase-overview-WGN-PWD-2013-01-16.html

Current Status:

The Table Linkbase Specification is currently in the Public Working Draft (PWD) development stage. The current PWD is dated 17 May 2013. A Public Working Draft is a working draft that has been distributed to the general public for the purposes of obtaining feedback commentary. The XBRL standards development cycle allow for multiple PWDs based on market input and needs. The XBRL International Standards Board (XSB) approves the publication of all PWDs.

The current Table Linkbase PWD: http://www.xbrl.org/Specification/table-linkbase/PWD-2013-05-17/table-linkbase-PWD-2013-05-17.html

Market Situation:

As the Table Linkbase Specification has been identified as critical to a number of implementations currently underway, the XII Standards Board is giving Table Linkbase the highest priority. This, and the important feedback being received, has resulted in multiple drafts and requests for comment. Software developers and other stakeholders with a significant interest in the Table Linkbase Specification are encouraged to 1) follow developments carefully 2) verify you are working with the latest PWD and 3) plan for evolution of the specification in your software development efforts as the TLB progresses to recommendation status. Specification developments are announced on the XII website, through social media channels and the XII Weekly News Update (subscribe).

Timeline:

Specification quality and addressing broad market needs are our primary consideration. Due to pending project need, however, the XSB has committed to a calendar Q3 delivery of the Table Linkbase Specification to Candidate Recommendation (CR) status. CR status indicates that a particular specification has been widely reviewed and satisfies the Working Group’s technical requirements. XII publishes a Candidate Recommendation to gather implementation experience.

Contact:

rendering-feedback@xbrl.org

XII is seeking candidates for the Standards Board (XSB), Best Practices Board (BPB) and Certification Board (XCB).

The deadline for all submissions of candidate statements and for nominees to confirm they accept nomination is 2359 UTC, 17 June 2013.

There is no limit on the length of candidate statements. Please send nominations, candidate statements and confirmation of acceptance of nominations, if applicable, by PRIVATE E-MAIL to nominate@xbrl.org.

Learn more on a host of topics, including Business Intelligence, Business Registries, Financial Regulation, Non-Financial Reporting, Banking, Insurance, Taxation and more. http://archive.xbrl.org/26th/

(Tuesday 16 April 2013) – ACORD and XBRL International, in collaboration with BR-AG (Business Reporting Advisory Group), today released a discussion paper examining touch points between the XBRL Solvency II taxonomy and ACORD's Global Reinsurance and Large Commercial (GRLC) standards. The paper's release was announced jointly by BR-AG's CEO Michal Piechocki and ACORD's Chief Industry and Government Affairs Officer, Ann Henstrand during the 26th XBRL International Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

The discussion paper explores the notion that there is a common subset of data between the two sets of standards which can be mapped to achieve efficiency, consistency, and reliability.  The ACORD GRLC standards and the XBRL Solvency II taxonomy are the initial focus for interoperability opportunities between the standards, given the advent of Solvency II regulatory reporting requirements for insurers in EU member states.

"ACORD believes that collaboration between data organizations is important. Working together, we can more quickly build data roadmaps for consistent use in all insurer operations systems. This paper is an important marker toward the goal of more accurate and efficient communication and data exchange," said Gregory A. Maciag, President and CEO, ACORD.

"The broad acceptance of XBRL proves that the need for efficient sharing of business information is not confined to any one industry or reporting requirement. With this detailed exploration of how two standards can complement each other, we are opening up new possibilities for both XII and ACORD. We look forward to working closely with the insurance industry to uncover more we can do together," said Tony Fragnito, CEO of XBRL International.

Michal Piechocki, CEO of BR-AG, of Poznan, Poland, who co-authored the paper with ACORD's Puneet Bharal, said, "The utility and reliability of XBRL data will be enhanced by working with existing vertical industry standards, such as ACORD for insurance.  BR-AG is pleased to contribute to this proof-of-concept work, and looks forward to more extensive community discussions and possible development of real-life business use cases."

XBRL is a well-established and growing global standard for the sharing of business information in sectors such as securities regulation, taxation, banking, insurance and non-financial areas like carbon disclosure and risk reporting, while ACORD is a well-established and growing global standard primarily used for insurance industry transactions in all insurer sectors.  ACORD standards also contain an insurance industry framework made up of five inter-related facets including a business glossary, data model, component model, capability model and information model.  These ACORD insurance industry models are identified in the discussion paper as the means by which a unifying data dictionary encompassing both standards could be created to support future mappings for consistency and ease.

Next steps identified by the two organizations include the formation of a joint working group with representation from the XBRL regulatory, accounting and financial reporting communities, along with IT, data architecture, and insurance business community members from ACORD. The group will further explore efficiencies which may be achievable in other parts of the world, and using the full scope of ACORD's standards including general insurance, life and annuities, and more.

For a copy of the discussion paper, please see: http://xbrl.org/sites/xbrl.org/files/imce/xii_acord_brag_discussionpaper.pdf. To indicate interest in participating in the joint XBRL-ACORD Working Group, please contact:  Puneet Bharal, Director of Implementation Services, pbharal@acord.org.

(4 April 2013) -- Versioning Specifications are Now Released as Recommendation

XBRL International is pleased to announce that the XBRL Standards Board, at the request of the XBRL Versioning Working Group, has approved as Recommendation (REC) the Versioning Specifications including Base, Concept Use, Concept Details, and Dimensions. 

XBRL International would like to thank the members of the working group who have worked so diligently to bring the Versioning Specs to Recommendation, including the following members and their affiliations at the time of contribution:  Roland Hommes, Rhocon; Paul Warren, CoreFiling; Ignacio Hernández-Ros, Reporting Estandar S.L.; Hugh Wallis, XBRL International Inc.; Haiko Philipp, IFRS Foundation; Geoff Shuetrim, Galexy; Ian Stokes-Rees, CoreFiling; David North, CoreFiling; Herm Fischer, Mark V Systems; Richard Ashby, CoreFiling; Raynier van Egmond, C3i SMC LLC; Eric Jarry, Bank of France; Maciej Piechocki, IFRS Foundation; Suguru Washio, Fujitsu Ltd. and Stuart Barker, CoreFiling.

The Specifications can be found at the following links: 

• Versioning - Base (HTML)
• Versioning - Concept Use (HTML)
• Versioning - Concept Details (HTML)
• Versioning - Dimensions (HTML)

The specifications can also be found on the Recommendations page of the XBRL International website:  http://www.xbrl.org/SpecRecommendations.