Digital Financial Reporting

XBRL US has launchedwhat they are calling the "XBRL Consistency Suite".  They say that tool is "a set of online XBRL tools that help public companies identify inconsistencies in XBRL documents related to the use of the US GAAP Taxonomy."

Per a PRNewswire press release, the XBRL Consistency Suite performs over 6000 US GAAP Taxonomy specific tests which help reduce errors.  XBRL US says that of the 1400 SEC XBRL submissions to date "thousands of errors have been identified".

XBRL US also published a document titled Avoiding Common Errors in XBRL Creation.  The final sentence of that document says:

Following a standardized set of guidelines can provide the peace of mind that the best possible practice is being used.

That document explains some of the types of errors the XBRL Consistency Suite checks.  One of these categories from the table of contents is "Value is Required if Another Value is Reported".  Now, this is not an XBRL thing, this is an financial reporting type error which something like a disclosure checklist would catch.  What is up with that you might ask?

Well, now we are getting into the real value of XBRL for filers.  Software able to tell you that you forgot to report something?  Yes sir.  I have been saying that for years.  XBRL can also help you be sure that all your numbers cross cast and foot also.

I see this XBRL US Consistency Suite as a best practice.  What do you think?  There are a lot of other things which the existence of this consistency suite brings up, but I will go into this later.  Stay tuned.