Environmental Protection and Sustainability Reporting:Extensible Business Reporting Language(XBRL)Interactive Data to the Rescue

A company‟s environmental performance is important to the financial markets because improved environmental performance generally leads to higher, more sustainable, financial values. Challenges that arise in environmental financial accounting border on proper accountability of environmental costs and liabilities, meaningful disclosure of enterprise environmental performance, and development/usage of appropriate management accounting procedures (e.g. costing out pollution controls; comparing alternative materials that can be used in manufacturing; and investigating recycling alternatives). The need for standardized environmental performance indicators (EPIs) which link financial and environmental performance in order to support the quality of decision making of stakeholders cannot be overemphasized. In spite of the existence or underway development of a number of guidelines for measuring and disclosing environmental performance, many environmental indicators are of a limited benefit due to the lack of standardization of environmental information. Most information today moves in a digital format and people often go to the internet for information. Sustainability information, however, has largely remained in print, but report preparers and users have much to gain by moving environmental and social performance information into the wider digital flow of information. This paper therefore, while showcasing the importance of and need for environmental accounting and reporting, provides a recipe underscored by information standardization through the engagement of the twenty-first century corporate reporting language known as eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). XBRL enables an electronic “tag” on numbers or other qualitative information in the report so that computers can recognize the information, select it, analyze it, store it, exchange it with other computers and present it automatically in different ways. It concludes that the assurance about a company‟s financial projections and nonfinancial information (customer satisfaction, employee retention, or environmental reporting) and the integrity of the information itself through XBRL would enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of resource allocation, increase income and welfare, as well as achieve the objective of an environmentally sound management which encompasses increasing eco-efficiency, reducing environmental impact, and increasing company value added. It thus recommends that Nigeria and the developing countries should embrace the XBRL technology as they cannot afford to be left behind by the fast spreading current worldwide future reporting standard

Muhasebe bilgi teknolojisinde genişletilebilir işletme raporlama dili (XBRL) ya da genişletilebilir biçimlendirme dili (XML)

İçinde bulunduğumuz çağda bilgisayar teknolojisi oldukça hızlı ve tahmin edilmez bir gelişme göstermektedir. Bilgisayarların hayatımızın hemen her alanında kullanılması lüks olmaktan çok bir ihtiyaç haline gelmiştir. Bilgi teknolojisi (Information Technology - IT) olarak adlandırabileceğimiz bu gelişmeler, işletmelerin internet üzerinden müşterileri ile ilişkiye geçebilmesine, mal ve hizmet pazarlayabilmesine, satış sonrası destek verebilmesine vs. olanak sağladığı gibi; işletme ortaklarına veya yatırımcılara finansal faaliyetleri ile ilgili anında bilgi verebilmesi kolaylığını da getirmiştir. Tüm bu gelişmeler kuşkusuz muhasebe mesleğini de etkilemiştir ve etkilemeye devam etmektedir. Özellikle son yıllarda hızla gelişen genişletilebilir işletme raporlama dili (Extensible Business Reporting Language - XBRL) sürekli bir veri üretimi ortamı oluşturmuş, defter ve belgelerin en az olduğu bir bilgi sistemi kurmuştur. Bu alandaki gelişmeler gelecekte muhasebe mesleğinde her türlü belgenin dijital olacağını göstermiştir. XBRL konusundaki gelişmeler bir tartışmayı da beraberinde getirmiştir. XBRL temel olarak bir genişletilebilir biçimlendirme diline (Extensible Markup Language - XML) bağlı oluşturulmuş bir dille yazılan uygulamalardır. İşletmeler gelecekte paket program olarak kurulabilen XBRL sistemini kullanmayı tercih edebilecekler; aynı zamanda kendilerine özel geliştirilebilen XML tabanlı programları da tercih edebilecektir. Çalışmada, gelecekte muhasebe mesleğinde XBRL’yi kullanmanın yararları ile geliştirilen XML’yi kullanmanın yararları tartışılmaktadır

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) : a tool for accounting education in the 21st century

21st century education standards focus on 21st century skills, content knowledge and expertise. Technology advances such as eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) have revolutionized the way information is exchanged and the way business is conducted. These days, speed is of the essence and loss of accuracy, lack of transparency, and difficulty in analysis are increasingly becoming apparent risks. This research exposes XBRL as a phenomenon that represents the future of global accounting education. It discusses the concept and need for XBRL as well as its potential uses and challenges. The research found that there is an ongoing transformation in the way business is conducted and regulated world-wide. The onslaught of the information revolution has profound ramifications for corporate reporting information preparers and users. It therefore recommends that the greater the degree of collaboration between all participants in the financial information supply chain, including government regulators and public sector accountants, the greater the benefits that this information format enables for all participants, educationists, academics, companies, regulators, investors, and government agencies alike.peer-reviewe

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) : a tool for accounting education in the 21st century

21st century education standards focus on 21st century skills, content knowledge and expertise. Technology advances such as eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) have revolutionized the way information is exchanged and the way business is conducted. These days, speed is of the essence and loss of accuracy, lack of transparency, and difficulty in analysis are increasingly becoming apparent risks. This research exposes XBRL as a phenomenon that represents the future of global accounting education. It discusses the concept and need for XBRL as well as its potential uses and challenges. The research found that there is an ongoing transformation in the way business is conducted and regulated world-wide. The onslaught of the information revolution has profound ramifications for corporate reporting information preparers and users. It therefore recommends that the greater the degree of collaboration between all participants in the financial information supply chain, including government regulators and public sector accountants, the greater the benefits that this information format enables for all participants, educationists, academics, companies, regulators, investors, and government agencies alike.peer-reviewe

The Role of XBRL on EMAS Reporting: An Analysis of Organisational Values Compatibility

This paper proposes a measurement method for assessing the extent to which the XBRL digital standard eXtensible Business Reporting Language can assist firms in implementing their reporting when applying EMAS The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. A specific survey based on the work of (Bunker et al., 2007), which uses Value Compatibility, was carried out at the most important firms in Southern Spain. Different sectors were involved in the study: public hospital, copper manufacturing facilities, petrochemical plant and pulp and renewable energy production. The results reveal some concordances between EMAS using XBRL as a reporting technology, and the cultural, organisational and technical working environment of the analysed firms, specifically those related to the Structural Dimension. By contrast, some discordance is highlighted related to the Practical Dimension. The paper proposes for the first time the application of the global financial standard XBRL for a non financial purpose like the widely accepted EMAS, to actual potential uses in real scenarios. The empirical research combined heavy industry with services, privately owned firms with public entities, private and public sector, in the analysis of this technology. The paper represents a necessary landmark for a subsequent longitudinal study.JEL Codes - D8; M14; M15; M41; M4

GeoXBRL: Integration Standard between Geographical and Business Data

Context: The usage of geographic data and geovisualization in financial auditing and analytics is increasing among auditors and accountants. Business information systems can process and analyze data through geographic approaches (e.g. financial insight on a virtual geographic map). Although many business information systems have been developed considering geographic data as one of data sources, there is no a standard for modeling both kind of data together (i.e. business and geographical). Conversely, it is also known that Geographic Markup Language (GML) and eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) are W3C technologies worldwide used for representing geographic and business data, respectively. Given this absence of standardization to represent geospatial data within business taxonomies, this paper proposes the GeoXBRL to fill this gap. This paper specifies an integration between geographic and business/financial data. For this, W3C technologies such as XLink, XML schema, GML and XBRL have been used to make the data structure of this integration. As an assessment, a XML-based representation and a Java-based web application have been developed on a real-world business taxonomy (available on US-SEC website). A comparison is shown between previous business data scenario and the new one proposed in this paper. Finally, this proposal allows to explain how to use the GeoXBRL. Some comparisons with current tools and technologies are shown in order to illustrate the GeoXBRL features and contributions

Empirical investigations into corporate reporting in Europe: A financial market perspective on determinants and consequences of sustainability and digital reporting

This paper-based dissertation comprises five essays dealing with corporate sustainability and digital reporting and is structured in six chapters. The first chapter is the introduction and provides an overview of the structure and aims of the dissertation, lays out the contribution of the work, and introduces the five manuscripts. The second chapter, respectively the first manuscript, deals with the consequences of mandatory sustainability reporting in Europe. Specifically, the study deals with the question whether Directive 2014/95/EU has achieved its objectives of increasing reporting quantity and quality. In the third chapter, the sustainability reports of the largest European firms are analyzed using computer-aided text analysis. This study investigates whether and how external assurance of sustainability reports is beneficial from the viewpoint of report transparency, which is proxied by reporting scope, optimism, and readability. In the fourth chapter, the role of corporate sustainability in the context of M&A transactions is examined, precisely whether sustainability influences the premia paid in M&A transactions. The fifth and the sixth chapters center around the voluntary usage of online financial reporting (OFR) in Europe. While the fifth chapter is concerned with the usage and empirical determinants of OFR, the analysis in the sixth chapter examines the impact of OFR on the financial market, specifically on analyst following and stock liquidity

Mandatory ESG Reporting and XBRL Taxonomies Combination: ESG Ratings and Income Statement, a Sustainable Value-Added Disclosure

Corporate financial statements address multiple stakeholders’ needs. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), among others, allow two different classifications, “by function of expense” and “by nature of expense”, for the statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income for the period (from now on, also identified in short as “Income Statement”, or “IS”). XBRL standards ensure compliance and consistency in financial statements’ drafting and filing. XBRL taxonomies reflect the Income Statement IFRS disclosure requirement in the {310000} and {320000} codifications, respectively. Given the recent EU enhanced regulations that proposed extend mandatory ESG reporting to SMEs, this study aims to design and recommend an additional Income Statement to embed structured Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure. A restatement of the IS is organised following an adjusted Value-Added perspective to fit the purpose of sustainability disclosure. The above-mentioned Income Statement should be suitable and adaptable for entities of any size and operating in any industry. This goal can be achieved through customised input weighting. Therefore, this applied research can fill a current financial ESG disclosure gap, ensuring financial statements’ comparability and encouraging additional mandatory disclosures through standardisation. Two more items in the XBRL (IFRS-based) structure are suggested, leading to the introduction of one fully structured statement “{330000}—Statement of comprehensive income, profit or loss, by Added Value, ESG based” and a semi-structured “{814000}—Notes—ESG Ratings and Reporting” to better discuss and disclose the assumptions and results of the ESG Statement