Page 385 - Accounting Information Systems

356 PART II Transaction Cycles and Business Processes

order attributes in a relational form that can be automatically imported into a bookseller’s internal
database.

XBRL
Recognizing the potential benefits of XML, the AICPA encouraged research into the creation of an
accounting-specific markup language. XBRL is a XML-based language that was designed to provide the
financial community with a standardized method for preparing, publishing, and automatically exchanging
financial information, including financial statements of publicly held companies. XBRL is typically used
for reporting aggregated financial data, but can also be applied to communicating information pertaining
to individual transactions. Figure 8-7 presents an overview of the XBRL reporting process, the key ele-
ments of which are discussed in the following sections.
The first step in the process is to select a XBRL taxonomy. Taxonomies are classification schemes
that are compliant with XBRL specifications to accomplish a specific information exchange or reporting
objective such as filing with the SEC. In essence, the XBRL taxonomy specifies the data to be included
in an exchange or report. The XBRL Standards Committee has created several taxonomies for widespread
use. The illustrations in Figures 8-8 through 8-11 are based on XBRL Taxonomy for Financial Reporting
for Commercial and Industrial Companies, referred to as CI taxonomy. 2

FI G U RE
8-7 OVERVIEW OF XBRL REPORTING PROCESS

Information-Reporting Organization

Taxonomy
XBRL Taxonomy
Mapper

Reporting
Reporting
Reporting
Organization’s Organization’s XBRL Instance Organizations
Financial
Document
Financial Database with (Financial Report) Web Site
Database
Embedded Tags
Information-Using Organization

Analyze Financial Download
Information Financial Report
to User’s System

2 This illustration is based on an example prepared by Charles Hoffman, member of the XBRL Steering Committee Specification
Working Group, with assistance from Neal Hannon, XBRL Steering Committee Education co-chair.