Digital Financial Reporting

Someone made me aware of an application called TheBrain.  You can try the online version by just getting a login.  You can download a locally installable version and you get a free trial.

What is interesting about TheBrain is that it helps you get your head around how knowledge such as a financial reporting taxonomy will be represented and used in the future.

I created two prototypes.  The first is FASB's SFAC 6 represented as best as I could within TheBrain.  I cannot get the relations expressed that I want expressed (i.e. all of this information).  I don't quite understand how to use "tags" and "types" as well as I need to.  But, the thing about generalized tools like this is that they are harder to user that special purpose tools.

What I suspect is going to happen is that some smart software vendor is going to grasp that if they can get away from the XBRL syntax, deal with meaning and logic instead, and create a specialized tool for financial reporting then they will have something useful and valuable.

The second prototype is SBRM Logical Conceptulization of a Business Report using TheBrain.  (This)

Let me see what I can come up with.  Worst case is that I will understand the shortcomings of TheBrain and how to overcome them.  Maybe I will help build something specific for financial reporting.

Software similar to TheBrain includes XMind, MindMeister, FreeMind, MindManager, Mindomo, and a bunch of other such applications.