13 December 2017

FRC Lab calls for collective action to promote digital corporate reporting

A new report from the FRC’s Financial Reporting Lab concludes that XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is an important technology in the path to digitisation of company reporting.

However, since the potential benefits of XBRL for listed company reporting are not guaranteed, the Lab urges regulators, companies, investors and technology providers to work together to realise fully the potential of XBRL and to respond to the challenge of a new European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) for digital corporate reporting due in 2020.

XBRL improves the efficiency of financial reporting by facilitating the analysis of financial data. It is used for corporate reporting purposes in more than 60 countries around the world, but there is currently no requirement to use it for consolidated financial statements in the UK. With the introduction of ESEF this is likely to change.

The Lab considered how XBRL could be used in the production, distribution and consumption of listed company annual reports. The Lab identified gaps between the characteristics that users and preparers desired from digital reporting and the expected implementation of XBRL for listed company reporting. To close these gaps, the Lab recommends a series of actions for regulators, technology companies, preparers (listed companies) and investors.

The Lab recommends that a single committee be formed with representatives from regulators and Government to drive digital reporting in the UK by;

• Exploring the potential benefits of data reuse in the UK, and where needed, align reporting requirements;
• Ensuring that regulators work together to adopt ESEF, or UK alternative, to provide better quality corporate reporting data; and
• Engaging with companies and investors about this work.

The FRC fully supports the recommendation in the report to form a committee to help promote digital reporting in the UK and will look into how this can be taken forward.

Full press release

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