XBRL: just about the complex - Chapter 2. What is XBRL?
2. What is XBRL?
Before diving into the XBRL specification, this chapter will briefly discuss what XBRL is. As explained in the previous chapter, XBRL actually represents two things: the definition of what to include in the report and the reporting data itself . You will be presented with both parts of XBRL: taxonomies and reports.
2.1. What is taxonomy?
Remember the example of the reporting form that I showed in the first chapter ? Here it is again:
The form strictly defines the composition of the report as a set of fields in which the company can fill in the facts. The text in front of each of the fields explains exactly what you need to specify in this field. You can also find in the reporting form footnotes that provide more information (for example, whether it is necessary and how to calculate the number of freelance contractors and part-time employees) or references to legislation, general practice, reference manuals, etc.
Similarly, a taxonomy is a document that defines a set of concepts, the facts about which should be contained in a report. Taxonomy defines the meaning and structure of concepts, and also provides additional information about them in the following ways:
- Concepts are of the type , for example, "Cash" will have a monetary type (numeric, with a nominal value), and "Name" will be plain text;
- Concepts can be linked to each other (for example, computing one concept based on others) and with documentation (for example, with reference material);
- There are two types of concepts:
- Item (item) - describes an independent concept that allows you to pass a certain fact, for example. "Cash" or "number of employees".
- Tuple (tuple) - is a set of concepts (points or other tuples), allowing to group interrelated facts, each of which separately does not have sufficient meaning, for example. the tuple "manager" may contain "name" and "position".
If you need to receive completed reports from companies, you can order printing of 10,000 copies of the reporting form at the printing house and send them to each reporting company each year for manual filling.
When using XBRL, it is sufficient to simply publish the taxonomy and ask the company to send reports based on it.
2.2. What is an XBRL report?
Let's go back to the example of the completed reporting form from the first chapter :
In the last section, we talked about the fact that taxonomy simply defines the concepts by which companies convey facts, like filling out a paper reporting form.
Filling in the necessary data in the form fields, we get a ready-made report. To transfer the reported data, do not need a full template with all the explanations. The following information would be sufficient:
All you really need is the identifier of the reporting form, the company name, the reporting period, and the facts themselves, with links to the form fields.
This is exactly what the XBRL Report contains:
- Taxonomy Link
- The context identifier in which the facts are populated.
- Facts with links to taxonomy concepts
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/333656/
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