XBRL

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a freely available, open, and global standard for exchanging business information. XBRL allows the expression of semantic meaning commonly required in business reporting. The language is XML-based and uses the XML syntax and related XML technologies such as XML Schema, XLink, XPath, and Namespaces. One use of XBRL is to define and exchange financial information, such as a financial statement. The XBRL Specification is developed and published by XBRL International, Inc. (XII).

XBRL is a standards-based way to communicate and exchange business information between business systems. These communications are defined by metadata set out in taxonomies, which capture the definition of individual reporting concepts as well as the relationships between concepts and other semantic meaning. Information being communicated or exchanged is provided within an XBRL instance.

Early users of XBRL included regulators such as the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS). Common functions in many countries that make use of XBRL include regulators of stock exchanges and securities, banking regulators, business registrars, revenue reporting and tax-filing agencies, and national statistical agencies.

A wiki repository of XBRL projects is available to be freely explored and updated. According to the Financial Times, "the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, the UK's HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and Companies House in Singapore have begun to require companies to use it, and other regulators are following suit.". The SEC's deployment was launched in 2010 in phases, with the largest filers going first: by 2013, the large foreign companies which use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will also be submitting their financial returns to the SEC using XBRL. In the UK, both HMRC and Companies House accept XBRL in the iXBRL format (see below).