(1 March 2013) XII has made the first public working draft of the Inline XBRL 1.1 Specification available for comment.  Version 1.1 is the second release of the Specification for Inline XBRL. This version adds to version 1.0 a mechanism for splitting text content within a document; it allows the nesting of ix:nonFraction and ix:fraction; and it replaces the linking mechanism for footnote resources with a structure based on a new element, ix:relationship, which also provides support for fact-explanatoryFact links.

This PWD consists of two parts which can be found at the following links:  Part 0 – Primer 1.1  and Part 1 – Specification 1.1.  Further information is available on the XII website at http://www.xbrl.org/SpecPWDs

Feedback on this release is requested and must be sent to rendering-feedback@xbrl.org.

(6 February 2013) XBRL International has assigned HE Mohammed Al-Hadari, Deputy CEO for Organizational and Support Services Affairs, as its ambassador to the Arab World. In this role he will support XII objectives within the Arab countries, including hosting visitors to study the SCA project, hosting roundtables within the UAE and the region to promote XBRL and active outreach to facilitate connections, meetings and membership recruitment with interested parties within Arab countries.

“Mr. Al-Hadari has made valuable contributions and efforts in spreading and boosting XBRL in the Arab region”, said XII CEO Anthony Fragnito. “We expect the leadership he has shown in the Jurisdiction and in hosting XBRL24 in Abu Dhabi last year to continue to pay dividends in the area of XBRL adoption and the growth of the consortium”.

(1 February 2013) – As part of ongoing work to develop an abstract model of the XBRL specification, XII is seeking software developers and other interested parties to begin use of the current form of the model in their implementations. The second PWD of the Abstract Model may be found at: http://xbrl.org/Specification/abstractmodel-primary/PWD-2012-06-06/abstractmodel-primary-pwd-2012-06-06.html

The abstract model has been developed as a means of establishing a common framework for communicating and understanding the XBRL technology. The model’s conceptual framework for understanding the specification will give developers a strong foundation for implementing XBRL solutions.

For those seeking greater detail, a series of informational webinars on the abstract model may be found at http://www.xbrl.org/abstract-modelling-task-force#webinars

The development of the XII Abstract Model is led by the Abstract Modelling Task Force and includes use case diagrams, class diagrams, object diagrams, and sequence diagrams. It is a key component of Preserve Promote Participate, the strategic core vision developed by the XBRL Standards Board to continue the momentum of the XBRL standard.

Implementation feedback may be sent to modelling-feedback@xbrl.org.

The model has gone through two rounds of public comment – the next step is to see if the model as currently constructed truly meets the needs of the market”, said the AMTF’s Dave Frankel. “Feedback based on actual use in the development of XBRL solutions is critical to advancing the work of the task force”.

The AMTF is Sponsored by:

29 January 2013 – XBRL International is pleased to announce an updated Public Working Draft of the Table Linkbase Specification.  The specification provides a means of representing complex reporting templates. This work has evolved with use cases from several high profile European projects.

The PWD, dated 2013-01-16, represents a major step forward in the maturity of this specification.  Projects evaluating this specification should update references to this latest release and are encouraged to implement and evaluate this specification. XII encourages feedback on experiences and additional use cases to the Rendering Working Group.

XII CEO Tony Fragnito acknowledges the contributions of Herm Fischer, Chair, Victor Morilla and the other members of the Rendering WG, as well as the significant contributions of Jon Siddle and the CoreFiling staff towards this important milestone.

The Table Linkbase PWD may be found at http://www.xbrl.org/SpecPWDs

The XII Best Practices Board is collecting case study examples to serve as the basis for its next webinar series: The Consumption of XBRL Enabled Business Reports. These will explain in simple and convincing terms the different potential usages of XBRL and the benefits of using of structured data for the sharing of information.

Individuals/companies interested in participating are invited to express their interest by completing the web registration form found at http://www.xbrl.org/bpb-webinar-series. Submission will be accepted until 18 January 2013.

Full details may be found at: http://www.xbrl.org/sites/xbrl.org/files/imce/webinar_series_two_consumption.pdf

XII best practice materials are intended to be peer-to-peer resources for both the sharing of knowledge and the promotion of XBRL as a solution to the challenges of business reporting. Investors, academics, software intermediaries, accountants, regulators, standard setters and others are encouraged to share their experiences in using XBRL to positively impact the way they communicate and acquire, navigate, analyse and aggregate the numeric and textual data disclosed within business reports. Corporate filers, who both prepare and consume structured data are also welcomed to share their unique perspective. 

When replying to this call for participation, please also provide a rough presentation outline via e-mail to bpb@xbrl.org 

All nominations will be reviewed by the XII Best Practices Board and you will be contacted within one month of the closing date of this call.     

Proposed Topics:

1. General Overview
1.1. How can XBRL benefit users of business reports - the basics.

2. Specific case studies for each of the following are sought:

1. Use of XBRL for retail investment 
2. Use of XBRL for institutional investment 
3. Use of XBRL for credit analysis
4. Use of XBRL for investment banking
5. Use of XBRL for corporates  
6. Use of XBRL for accountants and auditors
7. Use of XBRL for standard setters
8. Use of XBRL for tax reporting
9. Use of XBRL for banking and insurance supervision 
10. Use of XBRL for economic statistical purposes   
11. Use of XBRL for academic research
12. Use of XBRL for SBR

(19 December 2012) – XBRL International (XII) today announced that the General Purpose Taxonomy of Chinese Accounting Standards (CAS) has been granted “Acknowledged” status by the Taxonomy Recognition Task Force. XII’s multi-step Taxonomy Recognition Process validates the conformance of a taxonomy to the XBRL specification, determines that a taxonomy has been correctly authored, has had sufficient input from the public and meets the needs for which it was created.

The CAS Taxonomy, first released in 2010and first applied in 2011, defines the elements of XBRL and the basic requirements of preparing XBRL financial reporting based on CAS. In 2012, the Ministry of Finance and XBRL China expanded implementation of the CAS Taxonomy and required filing of 2011 annual financial reports in XBRL. Currently 82 large and medium-sized local state-owned enterprises in 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities; 18 financial institutions in the banking sector (including all of China's listed banks) and 14 large-scale central-administrated SOEs (of which 12 are listed on the US market) are using the CAS Taxonomy in their filings.

“Achieving Acknowledged status is an important recognition that highlights not just conformance to the XBRL Specification but also the dedication of the authors to the needs of the regulatory, filer and consumer communities,” said Anthony Fragnito, CEO of XII. “the Ministry of Finance and XBRL China continue to show leadership in the implementation of XBRL in one of the largest markets in the world”.

Extensions and modeling methods from the CAS Taxonomy also serve as the foundation for other XBRL taxonomies in China, allowing the MOF to take full advantage of XBRL for cross-jurisdiction regulatory information sharing for the securities and banking sectors. 

• The General Purpose Taxonomy of Chinese Accounting Standards may be accessed at: http://xbrl.mof.gov.cn/taxonomy/2010-09-30/cas_entry_point_2010-09-30.xsd

• Information on the Taxonomy Recognition Process as well as a list of recognized taxonomies, is available on the XII website: http://www.xbrl.org/FRTaxonomies

Download your copy of the XII 2012 Annual Report for updates from leaders, Jurisdictions, Boards, Committees and more!!

14 November 2012 – XBRL International (XII) is pleased to announce its Board of Directors and Treasurer for 2013, as elected by the XII Member Assembly at its general meeting in Yokohama, Japan.  Board members serve two year terms.

The Board is comprised of representatives from XII’s Jurisdictions, Organisational Direct Members, as well as at-large representatives including the Treasurer.

“The  broad experience and continued commitment of the 2013 Board of Directors will be an asset to XII as it continues its progression toward XBRL being the prominent standard for the sharing of business information”, said XII CEO Tony Fragnito.

2013 Members of the XBRL International Board of Directors, including term expiration

Jurisdictional Representatives

Conor O'Kelly - XBRL Ireland (2014)
GA Ramaswamy - XBRL India (2013)
Ying Wei - XBRL China (2014)

Organisational Direct Member Representatives

Thomas - AICPA, USA (2014)
Cees De Boer - Deloitte, Netherlands (2013)
Juthika Ramanathan - ACRA, Singapore (2013)

At-Large Representatives

Al Berkeley – USA (2014)
Juliette Kennel - Swift, Belgium (2013)
Karla McKenna - Citi Bank, USA (2013)
Yoshiaki Wada - NTT Data, Japan (2014)
Paul Penler (Treasurer) – EnY, USA (2014)

The group advises and assists in executing strategic opportunities as a result of XBRL’s growing international adoption, identifies critical reporting trends for which the XBRL standard is appropriate, and develops long-term growth and sustainability strategies for the XBRL international consortium.

In order to fulfill its mission to recommend standard APIs for XBRL-enabled systems, the XBRL International API Task Force is conducting a survey to:

• Better understand the challenges in developing, maintaining and/or using APIs in XBRL-enabled solutions
• Assess where market participants feel that XBRL-enabled software and supporting systems (for example databases or remote messaging) could be better adapted to the needs of XBRL users, practitioners and solution providers.

Take the survey

XII-recommended APIs will encourage inter-operability, simplify the task of integrating XBRL-enabled software into existing systems and improve the overall standard of XBRL-enabled solutions by providing design patterns specific to XBRL.

The results of this survey and the accompanying analysis will be released to the public. Survey respondents will not be identified.

The API Task Force is also soliciting existing APIs, persistence schemas or documentation from the community that may assist us to formulate best-practice approaches to various API domains.

Opinions and knowledge shared will influence the development of standard APIs for the XBRL community world-wide.

17 August 2012 -- The Versioning Working Group has updated the suite of versioning specifications and the versioning overview supporting document. 

They have issued a “Call for Implementations” of these specifications.  Software vendors are invited to share their implementation experiences, and provide comments and suggestions resulting from those experiences to versioning-feedback@xbrl.org.

The following documents have been updated:

Candidate Recommendations (http://www.xbrl.org/SpecCRs) – Call for Implementations
•        Versioning - Base (HTML)
•        Versioning - Concept Use (HTML)
•        Versioning - Concept Details (HTML)
•        Versioning - Dimensions (HTML)
Working Group Note (http://www.xbrl.org/WGNs)

•        Versioning Overview 1.0

Please review this important set of updated modules and provide feedback to versioning-feedback@xbrl.org.