Digital Financial Reporting

Long standing errors in the XBRL-based financial reports of public companies are being corrected.  Here is a sample of companies where a long standing error has existed but is ultimately corrected: 

• Chubb, inappropriate use of concept to represent income from continuing operations on income statement
• Publix, inappropriate extension concept related to their ESOP
• Tesla, concept used in a disclosure which conflicted with what they were saying on the balance sheet
• Violin Memory, Inc, inappropriate use of the concept us-gaap:LiabilitiesNoncurrent
• VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS INC, inappropriate use of the concept us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInContinuingOperations in representing cash flow
• Tesla, inappropriate use of concept in cash flow statement
• Wayfair Inc, inappropriate use of concept in cash flow statement
• Wonhe High-Tech International, Inc, inappropriate concept for line item Income (loss) from operations
• Youngevity International, Inc, temporary equity concept used to represent equity on balance sheet
• First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc, error related to provision for loan losses
• First National Corp, error related to provision for loan losses
• First South Bancorp Inc, error related to provision for loan losses
• Form Factor Inc, inappropriate use of concept on cash flow statement
• HIGHLANDS BANKSHARES INC, error related to provision for loan losses
• JAKKS PACIFIC INC, conflicting revenue concepts

Also, many filers have corrected their 10-Q filings but issues persist within the 10-K.  Typically these errors relate to conflicting information within a disclosure and within the primary financial statements.  Here are samples of filers that have issues in their 10-K, but their 10-Q is correct:

• Diversicare Healthcare Services, Inc, conflicting healthcare revenue concepts
• West Marine Inc, conflicting use of concept us-gaap:IncomeLossFromContinuingOperations
• Westlake Chemical Corp, conflicting revenues concepts on income statement and in disclosure
• Windstream Holdings, conflicting revenues concept on income statement and in disclosure
• CITIZENS FINANCIAL SERVICES INC, error related to provision for loan losses
• Civeo Corp, improper use of concept us-gaap:AssetsNoncurrent in a disclosure
• CUMBERLAND PHARMACEUTICALS INC, conflicting revenues concepts related to disclosure
• Delek US Holdings, Inc, inappropriate use of equity concept
• Enable Midstream Partners, LP, contradictory revenue facts
• FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANCORP, error in provision for loan losses

And just to round this out and to show that it is very possible to get 100% of the information within 100% of all filings correct, here are some examples of public companies that achieve this result.  I am showing income statement examples because the income statement is where most errors tend to exist.  Here are public companies that have no inconsistencies in their income statements (i.e. this is what all filings SHOULD look like):

• Volt Information Sciences (income statement)
• Tesla (income statement)
• Wayfair Inc (income statement)
• Apple (income statement)
• Cisco Systems (income statement)
• Microsoft (income statement, they do have ONE error)
• Wells Fargo (income statement, interest-based revenues)
• Anchor Bancorp (income statement, interest-based revenues)
• National Security Group (income statement, insurance-based revenues)
• PRUDENTIAL ANNUITIES LIFE ASSURANCE CORP, (income statement, insurance-based revenues)
• Elite Books (income statement)
• Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc, (income statement)

So, it is possible to get 100% of all filings 100% correct.  There is plenty of evidence of that.