[ebxml-dev] Standardization of financial reporting

[Todd Boyle <tboyle@rosehill.net>]

There have been numerous efforts over the years, to standardize
semantics of financial reporting.  EDGAR, the UN/CEFACT D14
productions, some proprietary ones, and the XBRL consortium.
I understand there are some schemas from securities regulators
and tax authorities in some countries as well.

These all have one thing in common: they are a systematic way
for accountants to put numbers into buckets, with precisely
defined meanings.  None of them even attempts however, to
provide a comprehensive method for classifying transactions
or resource balances on their native attributes or naming that
arose in arms' length exchanges between two trading partners.

Since ebXML provides a comprehensive system for semantic
classification, across all contexts, then it is reasonable to
expect the GAAP and tax classification to become at least
partly automated.  It is quite feasible that 99% of the sorts
of transactions executed in ebXML might be automatically
classified --or at least, staged into aggregates that are very
easy to classify after a few more questions are answered.

Who is going to do this?   XBRL is focused on increasing
the portability of financial reporting data *after* it has been
classified by accountants into XBRL classification schemes.
There simply is no connection between XBRL and the
native transaction data.  They would need some kind of a
metamodel for constructing classification rules.

Let's think about the incredible value and usefulness we could
provide, fairly easily, and our advantaged position knowing all
the ins and outs of the BPSS and the whole history of the
Core Components debates.  Nobody else can do this, and we
can do this.  Keep in mind, all businesses need to produce
reports.  If you believe ebXML will come into wide use then,
it is inescapable that somebody must deal with the classification
into GAAP reporting quantities,

Todd
Todd Boyle CPA  9745-128th Ave NE  Kirkland WA
International Accounting Services, LLC  www.gldialtone.com
425-827-3107  AR/AP everywhere  www.arapxml.net