Monday, December 15, 2014

Tip: How to view Fundamental Accounting Concept results

It has come to my attention that some of our customers are still using only the validation results (i.e., the "Validation" link) to identify areas of a filing that require review.  This mechanism is great for automated systems, or for extremely detailed messages when such detail is required.

The Evidence Package, however, is really much more efficient for humans to use, generally:
  1. Verification can be viewed in Context.  For example, if a Roll Forward doesn't add up on the Balance Sheet, the fact (value) that doesn't add up is highlighted on the Balance Sheet.  This is clearly much better than looking at a number in a "signal", and trying to figure out what that means.
  2. The validations are grouped by Business Rule Set on the "Overview Perspective" tab.  This provides a quick way to peruse all EFM errors, all Roll Forward tasks, etc.
  3. Some detail--especially for Fundamental Accounting Concepts--doesn't exist on any report except for the Evidence Package.  See image below:

Friday, December 5, 2014

Understanding Report Frames

By now, you are all using the simplest form of our Fundamental Accounting Concept Validation.  The current validation is our first serious foray into validating that the filings are valid from a U S GAAP perspective.  This takes into account not only the XBRL tagging, but also the true U S GAAP guidelines (XBRL notwithstanding).

The next revision of our software digs deeper into the organization and intent of the financial statements.  In order to do this, we are using a notion called Report Frames.  A Report Frame is a code that indicates meta-data about the filing.  This metadata includes for example:
  • The industry or activity
  • If the Balance Sheet is Classified or Unclassified
  • If the Income Statement is Single- or Multi-step
  • Much more!
As we move forward, it is imperative that our customers understand how the Report Frame codes interact with their filing, and the validation of their filings.  To that end, we encourage you to gain insight into Report Frames, and how those codes interact with our validation.  Therefore, the Summary Information About Conformance With Fundamental Accounting Concept Relations document is a must read!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

CleanScore updates; new USFAC Dashboard [V2.13.0]

We are excited to bring to you the first iteration of Fundamental Accounting Concepts, which is now available on our production systems!  Related, there is a new Fundamental Accounting Concept dashboard for our customers.  The list below itemizes the key myriad features of this new release:
  • CleanScore V2.2
    • Fundamental Accounting Concepts updated and moved to production!  Please see previous (Beta) release notes for details.  You will see many new rules in each subsequent release to cover more of already-tested statements, as well as new rules to cover not-yet-tested disclosures
    • Corrections to validation for EDGAR Filing Manual 6.5.9
    • Reduced severity of certain Roll Forward (end = begin + change) validations so that unusual-but-valid cases are flagged for REVIEW, but not an ERROR.
    • Various stability and performance enhancements
  • USFAC Dashboard [Beta]
    • New Fundamental Accounting Concepts dashboard.  The dashboard can be viewed at https://usfacdashboard.xbrlcloud.com
    • Details about each entity's filing are currently only available to our customers.  This dashboard is necessary to be able to compare and contrast each filer's filing (pre-submission) with competitors' or other comparable public filings.
    • In the future, this information will be made available publicly, probably as an upgrade on the EDGAR Dashboard.
  • EDGAR Dashboard
    • Various stability and performance enhancements
  • GAAPWatch / EDGAR Report Information
    • Updated S&P 500
    • Added Russell 1000 as a pre-defined group

Monday, October 6, 2014

Learn more about Fundamental Accounting Concept Validation


Charles Hoffman has just published a really excellent set of documents that succinctly describes the Fundamental Accounting Concepts.
http://xbrl.squarespace.com/understanding-sec-xbrl-financi/

Please read the Overview, as well as the detailed examples that show detailed analysis of each type of rule.

Make sure that you use the Beta site to run these rules on your filing (click on the beta link at the top of the page after you log in).  This documentation makes it extremely clear how to interpret the results of validating using the Beta CleanScore release.

Let us know if you have any questions!
Please pass this along to everyone else in your organization!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

XBRL Cloud Releases Beta CleanScore V2.10.0

Today, XBRL Cloud has release a Beta version of CleanScore V2.10.0.  This new release is the exciting initial release of a new thrust of validations that help filers assert that they are following U S Generally Accepted Accounting Principals.  That is, not just the U S GAAP XBRL structure, but rather that the financial statements and disclosures have the proper financial meaning and integrity within and across filings.

This Beta release includes:
  • Validation for U S GAAP Fundamental Accounting Concepts. For details please see: Financial Reporting Ontology, and especially Fundamental Accounting Concepts
  • Upgrades to EFM:
    • Check correctness of Fiscal Period Focus
    • Check correctness of the period defined by the Required Context
    • Assert that companies are setting dei:TradingSymbol
  • Relaxation of certain tests that were inappropriate applied to Risk/Return filings

Friday, August 29, 2014

XBRL Cloud releases CleanScore V2.9.0

The V2.9.0 release of CleanScore simplifies sifting through the automated validations:

  • CleanScore validation summary now broken down by validation code for faster interpretation.  Here's an example of what this looks like:



  • Upgrade validation message for presentation/calculation mismatches to reduce confusion related to "reverse" calculations (where the totals are displayed towards the top of the page; differences towards the bottom) that are evident on some filings.  This was a change requested by our customers.  Normally, totals are at the bottom of the page, but occasionally this is not the case.

  • Website now displays larger videos for easier viewing and improved clarity.

XBRL Cloud releases CleanScore V2.8.5

XBRL Cloud has released V2.8.5.  The thrust of the changes were aimed at the Japanese (read EDINET) market, although U S customers gain some usability as well:
  • The Evidence Package, Viewer, and other reports do not contain "empty" components.  While this can be a little confusing in general, many the first component in many EDINET filings is empty.  That is, you launched the viewer, and saw .... nothing.  The great side effect of this is that some U S filings are easier to browse
  • Password verification was changed to be more natural for customers with extended character sets as their default -- again, such as the Japanese.

Monday, July 21, 2014

XBRL Cloud releases CleanScore V2.8.4

The new 2.8.4 has a number of interesting updates, many of which relate to public (vs. subscription) functionality:
  • Patches to the EDGAR Dashboard that fixed issues preventing drill down on a few companies.
  • A handful of companies have been appearing on the "wrong" tab on the EDGAR Dashboard.  These have been moved to the appropriate tab.  The validation for these companies has been adjusted accordingly as well. If you are aware of any other companies appearing on the wrong tab, please let us know.
  •  For subscribers, the CSuite summary has been adjusted to delineate between severities.  Previously, all items were confusingly listed as ERROR.

Friday, July 11, 2014

New Support for IFRS filings at the SEC

XBRL Cloud recently released CleanScore version 2.8.0.  Notably, this release has support for much of the Global Filing Manual (GFM), yet tailored for use at the SEC.  Most of the EDGAR Filing Manual rules can and do apply to the IFRS filings.  While the SEC is not requiring IFRS filings, you can now test IFRS-based files that you might wish to submit.  In addition to GFM support, this release has minor adjustments to fix bugs related to validating Risk/Return filings.

Monday, June 30, 2014

XBRL Cloud releases CleanScore V2.6.6

XBRL Cloud has just released CleanScore V2.6.6.  This release includes:
  1. Adjustments to EFM 6.7.32, which ensures that only numeric items can have 'instant' data
  2. Stability and Performance upgrades

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

XBRL US Consistency Suite Summary

Hi everyone!  Thanks to XBRL US, XBRL Cloud subscribers can now see a summary of Consistency Suite results when running the new CleanScore Beta release.  That is, if you are not already upgraded to include the Consistency Suite, you can get an idea of what you are missing!

As always, you can check out the Beta release notes.

This is an exciting new feature, and we welcome your feedback!  Of course, if you want to see the detail, call us and we will be happy to upgrade your account!

Monday, April 28, 2014

Communication and Performance Release

XBRL Cloud has released a new production version of CleanScore.  Here are the key features:
  • Much improved communication about pending and active system maintenance.  Notably, you will see noticable banners letting you know about pending system maintenance outages.  While we do our best to schedule these infrequent outages during off-hours, our global presence means that somebody is likely to be directly affected.
  • This release includes upgrades that provide drastic speed improvements in certain areas.  For example, one frequently used feature with notably better performance is the Evidence Package.

As always, enjoy!  And, let us know what you think.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Production Release of Enhanced Roll Forwards

XBRL Cloud has released a new production version of CleanScore (see the release notes) .  Here are the key features:
  • All Beta functionality from the last month is now in production (please see previous blog entries and/or the release notes for more details.  Myriad improvements in Roll Forward Analysis have been in beta over the last month).
  • Roll Forward handling of xsi:nil is now consistent with the Staff Interpretations and FAQs Related to Interactive Data Disclosure
  • Roll Forward analysis now handles various adjustments better, notably for foreign currency
Finally, there are substantial improvements in validation time to make your interactive experience better.

Let us know if you have any feedback or any questions!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Beta Upgrade; Improved Roll Forward Analysis

Thanks to feedback from our customers, we took the opportunity to upgrade our Beta release.  Specifically, the newest upgrades are:
  • Improvements in the detection of missing calculations.  For the first time ever, we can definitively say when some XBRL calculations are missing from a filing.
  • Improvements to our Roll Forward analysis resulting in a reduction of the number of Roll Forwards recommended for review.
Stay tuned for more!  We are actively adding many more validations!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Beta release of major validation upgrade, iXBRL and more!

XBRL Cloud has just released a Beta version of CleanScore with substantially new areas of validation.  Included in this release are:


  • [New] Support for draft 2014 taxonomy
  • [New] Support for EDGAR Filing Manual V27
  • [New] Support for iXBRL validation
  • [New] One-click to auto-generate iXBRL from Evidence Package, which can be used as a template, or for review
  • [New] "Review" severity intended to point out items that require manual review.
  • Roll Forward verification that results in statements and disclosures to Review
  • Upgrade to DEI validations to ensure logical use of these concepts, especially regarding dates
  • Additional structural validations to ensure consistent presentation layout
  • Improved user navigation and "direction" when looking at all reports. The new design should eliminate confusion about which validations or reports are appropriate for the current filing.
We expect that these features will simplify your verification process.  Let us know what you think!