1. Standing for trust and integrity 19 th XBRL International Conference Paris, June 22-25 2009 Status FEE XBRL Task Force, what is happening around Europe Philip Johnson FEE Deputy President Chairman FEE Auditing Working Party and FEE XBRL Task Force

2. 2 Standing for trust and integrity Federating Member Bodies  43 professional institutes of accountants  32 European countries, including all 27 EU  > 500.000 professional accountants

3. 3 Standing for trust and integrity Agenda  Why should auditors in Europe be interested in XBRL?  Will auditors be asked to provide additional levels of assurance on XBRL information?  What has FEE done to consider the matter?  Where are IASB in the debate?  What is IAASB doing?  What are some of the other issues for auditors surrounding XBRL?

4. 4 Standing for trust and integrity XBRL around Europe (1)  Current examples on the use of XBRL around Europe  Belgium: over 90% of the companies use XBRL for financial statement filing which is pre-formated;  France: XBRL filing of annual statutory financial statements is accepted although little progress has been made with public companies;  Italy: the XBRL implementation has started; around 100,000 financial statements are expected to be filed under the new format;

5. 5 Standing for trust and integrity XBRL around Europe (2)  Netherlands: XBRL information prepared in agreement with the tax authorities will be accepted for tax purposes; banks have developed an extension of the Dutch taxonomy and are ready to start using it;  Spain: the use of XBRL has been approved by the authorities to file accounts;  Sweden: since 2006 electronic filing has been permitted by the legislator. For the year 2008, 60 fully electronic XBRL tagged annual reports have been submitted via the official internet service provided;  UK: there is a limited use of XBRL. Parallel projects are taking place, for audit exempt companies, abbreviated accounts can be filed in XBRL.

6. 6 Standing for trust and integrity FEE and XBRL  FEE has an XBRL Task Force combining financial reporting and auditing  First meeting in October 2008 brainstormed on possible FEE actions and considered types of assurance which may be requested;  Second meeting in March 2009 considered developing a project proposal;  A Policy Statement to educate the accountancy profession and stakeholders is being drafted.

7. 7 Standing for trust and integrity Assurance from auditors  What type of assurance should be given:  Reasonable assurance  Limited assurance  Agreed upon procedures  To whom:  Management  Shareholders  Third Parties  And when?

8. 8 Standing for trust and integrity XBRL Diagram 1)Tagging by bar code 2)Database integrity by IT general controls 3)Style sheets 4)Taxonomy 5)Taxonomy extensions 6)Instance documents

9. 9 Standing for trust and integrity FEE Policy Statement on XBRL (1)  FEE Policy Statement on XBRL main aim is to increase awareness in and outside the profession  What is XBRL?  What are XBRL “Taxonomies”?  What are “Extensions” of a Taxonomy and why are they used?  What is “tagging”?  What is an “Instance Document”?  What is a “Style sheet”?

10. 10 Standing for trust and integrity FEE Policy Statement on XBRL (2)  The Policy Statement also deals with:  Use of XBRL  How does XBRL change the preparation of financial statements  Implications of XBRL for statutory auditors  IAASB project on XBRL  XBRL Advantages and Disadvantages  Implications of XBRL for third parties  Practical implications

11. 11 Standing for trust and integrity IFRS XBRL Taxonomy  The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is responsible for the implementation of XBRL developments adapted to their latest accounting standards.  On 2 April 2009, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) published the final IFRS XBRL Taxonomy 2009.  The IFRS XBRL Taxonomy 2009 is a translation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as of 1 January 2009 into XBRL.  FEE does not believe auditors should provide assurance on the IFRS XBRL Taxonomy.

12. 12 Standing for trust and integrity IAASB XBRL Project  The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) approved a project that includes: 1. Consultation to obtain views about the IAASB’s plans to develop a pronouncement to address the performance and reporting expectations of the auditor in connection with audited financial statements that are accompanied by XBRL data (Phase 1 by March 2010); and 2. Subject to no indication to the contrary in the public interest arising from Phase 1, the development of a pronouncement on the responsibilities of the auditor in an audit of financial statements when audited financial statements are accompanied by XBRL data (Phase 2 by December 2011).  No new (non-audit) assurance or related services standard would be developed.

13. 13 Standing for trust and integrity Other Issues on XBRL for the Profession  General lack of awareness, understanding and knowledge;  Unease about change and the « unknown »  On which steps is audit or assurance needed?  Change in audit approach and/or opinion?  Issues with electronic signature  IAASB pronouncement might come too late

14. 14 Standing for trust and integrity Next Steps for FEE  Continuous contribution to IAASB project  Consideration of assurance requirements beyond financial statement audits  Educating the profession and third parties

15. 15 Standing for trust and integrity Questions

16. 16 Standing for trust and integrity Standing for trust and integrity Visit us @ www.fee.be