Results of the XBRL Pilot Project CORD Task Force 16 June 2008 Agenda item 7 Results of the XBRL Pilot Project CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

The context….. Less burden for businesses CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

…..of the XBRL Pilot Project …to test the feasibility of exploiting for statistical purposes the use of XBRL in company reporting (for example, the accounts delivered to national regulators, central banks…) in order to lower the reporting burden to enterprises CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Timetable of XBRL Pilot Project Phase 1 March 2006 – March 2007 Phase 2 April 2007 – December 2007 Task Force meetings March 2006 April 2007 April 2008: final evaluation Budget: 375.000 euros from IDABC – Eurostat’s X-DIS project CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Planned actions for Phase 2 Extract statistics from XBRL reports produced for purposes other than statistics: - Balance sheets - Accounting - Tax… Transform these instances into instances of the European taxonomies for SBS, STS Check if these latter are useful for NSIs CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Planned milestones for Phase 2 Local existing XBRL report for purposes other than statistics - decision made by mid May 2007 Providing XBRL instances of the reports previously identified - sending by mid June 2007 Once the target instances based on the European Taxonomy are generated, checking whether those target instances are useful for NSIs - results by early/mid December 2007 CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Outcomes Phase 2 (1) NL – CBS NTP Taxonomy 1.1 used for mapping IFRS-based taxonomy – moderate success rate for mapping to SBS (33%) and STS (52%) variables in European taxonomy version 4.0 Test instances based on NTP Taxonomy 1.0 and not fully populated, therefore no transformations possible CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Outcomes Phase 2 (2) BE - STATBEL CBSO-NBB Taxonomy 1.1 used for mapping GAAP-based taxonomy – low success rate for mapping to SBS (5%) and STS (9%) variables in European taxonomy version 4.0 Test instances were available CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Outcomes Phase 2 (3) IE - CSO Irish GAAP Taxonomy 2.1 used for mapping GAAP-based taxonomy – low success rate for mapping to SBS (9%) and STS (13%) variables in European taxonomy version 4.0 Test instances were available CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Outcomes Phase 2 (4) ES - INE ES-BE-CB Taxonomy 1.1 used for mapping GAAP-based taxonomy – low success rate for mapping to SBS (9%) and STS (17%) variables in European taxonomy version 4.0 Test instances were sent too late to be used within the Pilot Project CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Outcomes Phase 2 (5) SE - SCB Had been willing to participate but test instances would only have been available for an older version of the national taxonomy which was in Swedish; no progress was possible CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Outcomes Phase 2 (6) Very limited number of test XBRL instances from companies made available by countries in TF Low level of successful mapping between test instances and SBS/STS variables GAAP-based taxonomies did not give useful basis for generating SBS/STS statistics Even where mapping was apparently possible, there are open questions about whether the underlying definitions and concepts are identical (or can be derived) between accounting data and statistical data CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Conclusions (1) Proved that it was feasible to create a European statistical XBRL taxonomy for SBS and STS Did not identify areas other than SBS or STS Low level of mapping between national GAAP-based taxonomies and the European statistical taxonomy Very limited number of test XBRL instances from companies made available by countries in TF Developed a software called Reference Architecture for XBRL which is available for reuse and/or adaptation by NSIs (download from CIRCA or IDABC OSS repository) CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Questions (1) Why were there so few cases of real XBRL instances from companies? – accounting software and management information systems at companies are not capable of producing XBRL output ? – accounting software and management information systems at companies are capable of producing XBRL output but the rather complex state of national XBRL taxonomies has made it difficult for companies to exploit this capability ? – companies see no added value in producing reports in XBRL; there is as yet no European initiative corresponding to the US SEC programme for XBRL reporting ? CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Conclusions (2) Even where mapping was apparently possible, there are open questions about whether the underlying definitions and concepts are identical (or can be derived) between accounting data and statistical data CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Conclusions (4) Diversity of national XBRL taxonomies reflects the complexity of existing financial reporting arrangements, where different companies are required to follow GAAP and/or IFRS and where local GAAPs may substantially differ from IFRS and among each other. The latter would impose difficulties to create European wide taxonomies for given statistical areas with a high matching of concepts. CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Next steps (1) Member States in Task Force agreed on conclusions of Pilot Project Eurostat/DDG-02 project to develop taxonomy linking accounting and statistical concepts focused on SMEs (with in-depth investigation of definitions and concepts) Inside Member States: decisions and investment to achieve more homogenous reporting requirements for companies Common ESS approach on technical infrastructure European statistical taxonomy XBRL Reference Environment as basis for NSI IT infrastructure CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

Next steps (2) MEETS programme funding available from 2009 but Progress on improvement of reporting frameworks before Technical infrastructure for XBRL CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008