FRC Guidance. Accelerating Investor Use
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published new suggestions for corporates responsible for reporting in Inline XBRL to the UK’s National Storage Mechanism. We think it should be required reading for all companies reporting in Inline XBRL, wherever they are.
The aim is to help optimise reporting to meet the needs of investors and other users. Interestingly, independent research conducted on behalf of the FRC indicates growing direct use of structured Inline XBRL data by a significant number of investors, with 36% now declaring their direct use of Inline XBRL data. This is one more indication about just how useful XBRL data is for a wide range of users, and a reminder about the importance of ensuring that management has appropriate oversight and controls over their digital disclosures.
The FRC’s material includes suggestions relating to the importance of the basics, including scale factors, use of the correct sign and avoiding inappropriate extension tags.
The FRC notes increased voluntary adoption of “Native XHTML” approaches to tagging, which improve the utility of narrative consumption and analysis.
The suggestions remind UK issuers that management is responsible for their digital disclosures, and that “We, therefore, would expect issuers to devote the same level of care and attention to their XHTML AFRs as they do to their AFRs in PDF or printed form.” FCA Primary Market Bulletin 37”
This is a useful resource that should be required reading for issuers and software vendors in many parts of the world!
The report is here.
