1. 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

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

3. …..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

4. 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: euros from IDABC – Eurostat’s X-DIS project
CORD Task Force – 16 June 2008

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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