XBRL, or Extensible Business Reporting Language, is an open standard which supports information modeling and the expression of semantics, commonly required in business reporting. XBRL is XML-based. It uses the XML syntax and related XML technologies such as XML Schema, XLink, XPath, Namespaces, etc. to articulate this semantic meaning. The XBRL Specification is developed and published by XBRL International, Inc. (XII).

XBRL in India has come a long way since it initiated. Stock Exchanges and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been using XBRL since 2009. Both BSE and NSE use an XBRL enabled integrated filing platform for corporate disclosures. RBI makes use of XBRL for internal reporting i.e. for collecting the capital adequacy related data from all banks so as to check their compliance of Basel - II requirements. More recently, Ministry of Corporate Affairs has mandated XBRL in India in a phased manner for all companies.

The mandate applies to the following companies:

• All public listed companies in India and their Indian Subsidiaries
• All companies having a paid up capital of Rs. 5 crores and above
• All companies having a turnover of Rs. 100 crores and above

Currently the mandate excludes companies working in Banking, Insurance, Power and Non-banking Finance (NBFCs) sectors. It is proposed to include companies operating in these sectors to file their financial reports in XBRL from FY 2011-12.

All the companies that fall under the mandate are required to file with MCA following information in XBRL:

• Balance Sheet
• Profit and Loss Account
• Cash Flow Statement
• Schedules related to Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Statement
• Notes to Accounts
• Statement pursuant to section 212 of Companies Act 1956 relating to subsidiary companies
• Auditors Report
• Directors Report

Companies scheduling AGM before 30-09-2011 are permitted to file up to 30-09-2011. Companies scheduling AGM in September, 2011 are permitted to file within 30 days of adoption of accounts in the AGM.

XBRL documents comprise of an XBRL Instance (an XML document that contains data). An XBRL Taxonomy (Set of different XML files and XSD files that gives the structure to the data) is a dictionary of standard business terms referring to applicable accounting standards, laws such as Companies Act, and other statutory guidance.One can easily relate XBRL Instance document and Taxonomy with human body, by calling an XBRL Instance document “Flesh” and the taxonomy being the “Bones”. This completely gives us a set of XBRL Documents.

The current mandate requires filing of only the XBRL instance document, i.e., only the data is to be filed; no Taxonomy is required to be created for the filer. The filer has to refer to the standard taxonomy structure, viz., taxonomy approved by MCA and developed and made available by ICAI.
Taxonomy can be compared with a dictionary of business terms (The current version of the Indian GAAP taxonomy has 3076 terms). Each information within the Profit and Loss Account, B/S, Cash Flow Statement, Schedules, Notes to Accounts, Directors report and Auditors report, and other statements included within the scope are to be categorized using those 3076 terms.In addition to the taxonomy, certain business rules are also made available by the MCA.

The current approach of MCA is a closed one, wherein no custom changes to the taxonomy relationships are permissible; for example: If a concept reported by the company does not exist in the standard taxonomy developed by ICAI, the information will not required to be tagged. In other words, filers can skip the information; however, such information will be present in the complete filing in its conventional format but not in the XBRL filing. From FY 2011-2012, MCA will be allowing users to capture such information within XBRL documents since the creation of custom business concepts will be allowed.

You can use XBRL creation software packages to create XBRL documents. This type of software enables creation, review and validation of XBRL Documents. MCA will be making available an XBRL validator to help filers validate their XBRL documents against MCA's pre-defined rules. There are two approches available to companies to create XBRL Documents:

• Outsource: Provide your finalized accounts documents to an XBRL service provide who would use the data to create XBRL for you. Filers can review the XBRL Document created by the service provider and then file with MCA.
• In-house: XBRL application software packages or an XBRL feature integrated within accounting packages can be used. XBRL applications - such as Ez-XBRL - allow you to map, tag and file to the MCA, whereas the latter focuses on integrating XBRL creation feature within your normal financial reporting model.

Companies can derive a variety of benefits from XBRL:

• Automates Data Processing - Tag it once, use it again and again
• Standardises Information – Company can relate its information to its subsidiaries and associates and also its peers working in the same industry.
• Enables Multi-Language Capability – Company can make its data available in multiple languages.
• Enhances Visibility – Investors will find it time saving for collecting the data and analyzing it, which will enhance the visibility of the company.
• Provides Data Analysis Capabilities – Facilitates both in-house and external data analysis since the data is machine readable.

Companies can derive a variety of benefits from XBRL:

• Company internal and external financial reporting.
• Business reporting to all types of regulators, including tax and financial authorities, central banks and governments.
• Filing of loan reports and applications; credit risk assessments (Capital adequacy requirements).
• Exchange of information between government departments or between other institutions, such as central banks.
• Authoritative accounting literature - providing a standard way of describing accounting documents provided by authoritative bodies.
• A wide range of other financial and statistical data which needs to be stored, exchanged and analyzed.

Ez-XBRL Solutions has been providing its software products and XBRL tagging services to a large number of organizations worldwide. From 2010 onwards, Ez-XBRL has had significant experience working with a large number of companies in the USA, the UK and India. This specifically includes working with organizations to help them complete and fulfill their XBRL regulatory filing requirements.