Open Source Framework for Implementing XBRL-based Digital Financial Reporting
Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 03:10PM
Charlie in Becoming an XBRL Master Craftsman

I have taken all the puzzle pieces that I have created over the past 10 years, organized them, documented the information, and the result is the Open Source Framework for Implementing XBRL-based Digital Financial Reporting.

The framework leverages the XBRL technical syntax to represent metadata which then enables the creation of a software ecosystem which supports high function and automated quality control.  While the framework is focused on the creation of financial reports, it also provides leverage for the extraction of information from those reports and then using that information for analysis.

Currently there are three software vendors that support this framework. If you want to see some basic things you can do wiith this framework, see this working prototype which provides source code or check out Pesseract.

I would not consider the documentation that explains what can be achieved by leveraging this framework to be particularly good at this point.  I will improve that over time.  But, for those that want to wade through the information, here you go.

If you are interested in being a consultant, helping others to implement this framework please contact me.

Ask yourself a question. What if I am seeing all of this correctly and foundational changes are coming to financial report creation?

Think about what it means if I am right about things like the utility of templates and exemplars in the process of creating financial reports.  Think about what it means if Blackline is right about the financial transformation and the modern finance platform.  Think about what it might mean if old-school processes of creating a financial report was replaced with new better, cheaper, and faster processes.

The painful, gruesome, grueling, barbaric process of re-keying of data may not come to an end, but the pain will be noticeably reduced over the coming years.

Do you think these changes are even possible?

Article originally appeared on XBRL-based structured digital financial reporting (http://xbrl.squarespace.com/).
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