What is the future of XBRL?
XBRL is set to become the standard way of recording, storing and transmitting business financial information. It is capable of use throughout the world, whatever the language of the country concerned, for a wide variety of business purposes. It will deliver major cost savings and gains in efficiency, improving processes in companies, governments and other organisations.
XBRL is now advancing at a real fast pace. In the past it has been said that XBRL is coming many times (you can find articles dating back to 2003 that predict a widespread use before 2005), but it did not really come. It seems however that XBRL found enough momentum now. That XBRL’s breakthrough is coming slowly is perhaps because it is far from easy to implement. XBRL can replace existing reporting methods and probably will do so in the years to come. It is especially fit for international reporting and comparing figures internationally, as well as reporting to tax authorities, statistics agencies, etc.. The only question is: how long will it take before XBRL will replace traditional reporting; I can’t tell and the estimates you can find in research reports differ a lot. It is however inevitable that more and more traditional reports will be replaced by XBRL reports. Also because governments and regulators will enforce the use of XBRL. The main advantage is that XBRL standardizes the
