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abstract | An attribute of an element to indicate that the element is only used in a hierarchy to group related elements together. An abstract element cannot be used to tag data in an instance document. |
attribute | A property of an element such as its name, balance, data type, and whether the element is abstract. Attributes of XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy elements cannot be changed. |
authoritative reference | Citations to specific authoritative accounting literature (pronouncements, standards, rules, and regulations) derived from various authoritative sources (Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Accounting Standards Board, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, etc.) and used to help define an element. |
axis (pl. axes) | An instance document contains facts; an axis differentiates facts and each axis represents a way that the facts may be classified. For example, Revenue for a period might be reported along a business unit axis, a country axis, a product axis, and so forth. |
axis-default relationship | The dimensional relationship indicating that the table axis has a default domain member. In the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomies 1.0, the default is always the domain element. |
axis-domain relationship | The dimensional relationship indicating that the table axis has members drawn from a domain. |
balance | An attribute of a monetary item type designated as debit, credit, or neither; a designation, if any, should be the natural or most expected balance of the element - credit or debit - and thus indicates how calculation relationships involving the element may be assigned a weight attribute (-1 or +1). |
calculation relationships | Additive relationships between numeric items expressed as parent-child hierarchies. |
concept | XBRL technical term for element. |
context | Entity and report-specific information (reporting period, segment information, and so forth) required by XBRL that allows tagged data to be understood in relation to other information. |
decimal | Instance document fact attribute used to express the number of decimal places to which numbers have been rounded. |
definition relationships file | Technical term for dimensional relationships file. |
dimension | XBRL technical term for axis. |
domain | An element that represents an entire set of other elements; the domain and its members are used to classify facts along the axis of a table. For example, 'Arkansas' is a domain member in the domain 'States,' and would be used to classify elements such as revenues and assets in Arkansas as distinct from other states. When a fact does not have any domain member specified, that means it applies to the entire domain. |
domain member | An element representing one of the possibilities within a domain. |
domain-member relationship | Dimensional relationship indicating that a domain contains the member. |
element | XBRL components (items, domain members, dimensions, and so forth). The representation of a financial reporting concept, including: line items in the face of the financial statements, important narrative disclosures, and rows and columns in tables. |
element definition | A human-readable description of a reporting concept. From an XBRL technical point of view, the element definition is the label with the type 'documentation,' and there are label relationships in a label relationships file, but from a user point of view the definition is an unchangeable attribute of the element. |
entry point | A taxonomy entry point is identified by a unique URL (or set of URLs) that defines a logical starting point. It enables taxonomies to be filtered for specific types of reporting. |
extension taxonomy or extension | A taxonomy that allows users to add to a published taxonomy in order to define new elements or change element relationships and attributes (presentation, calculation, labels, and so forth) without altering the original. |
face of the financial statements | Financial statements without the notes or schedules. |
fact | The occurrence in an instance document of a value or other information tagged by a taxonomy element. |
hierarchy | Trees (presentation, calculation, and so forth) used to express and navigate relationships. |
hypercube | XBRL technical term for a table. |
imputed value | A value that is not specifically provided but could be calculated based on other provided numbers and calculation weights. |
instance or instance document | XML file that contains business reporting information and represents a collection of financial facts and report-specific information using tags from one or more XBRL taxonomies. |
item | XBRL technical term for a kind of element. |
label | Human-readable name for an element; each element has a standard label that corresponds to the element name, and is unique across the taxonomy. |
label type | A distinguishing name for each distinct element indicating the circumstances in which it should be used; each is given a separate defining role to use in different presentation situations. |
line item | Elements that conventionally appear on the vertical axis (rows) of a table. |
linkbase | XBRL technical term for a relationships file. |
mapping | Process of determining the elements that correspond to lines and columns in a financial statement and which elements must be created by extension. |
name | Unique identifier of an element in a taxonomy. |
namespace | Every element has a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) that identifies the organization that maintains the element definitions, with an indication of what the term covers. In the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy, namespaces start with http://xbrl.us/us-gaap/. A namespace prefix is not the namespace. |
nillable | An attribute that appears on all taxonomy elements, and is used (false) on elements that, if used in an instance document, must have a non-empty value. XBRL taxonomy tools normally have the default value for nillable as 'true.' There is no need for any extension to define an element with nillable 'false.' |
parent-child hierarchy | Relationship between elements that indicates subordination of one to the other as represented in a print listing or financial statement presentation. Relationships files use parent-child hierarchies to model several different relationships, including presentation, summation of a set of facts, and membership of concepts within a domain used as the axis of a table. |
period type | An attribute of an element that reflects whether it is reported as an instant or duration time period. |
prefix or namespace prefix | A shorthand sequence of letters for a namespace; 'us-gaap,' for example, is a common prefix for the namespace http://xbrl.us/us-gaap/2008-01-31. |
presentation relationships | Relationships that arrange elements allowing them to navigate the taxonomy content in parent-child tree structures (hierarchies). |
render or rendering | To process an instance document into a layout that facilitates readability and understanding of its contents. |
scaling | A process that automatically scales numeric data by value, thus saving time of entering zeros during the entry or creation process. XBRL does not support the scaling of numeric values (all values must be reported in their entirety); however, it is a feature commonly found in instance document creation software. |
scenario | Tag that allows for additional information to be associated with facts in an instance document; this information encompasses in particular the reporting circumstances of the fact, as for example 'actual or forecast.' The scenario of any fact can be left unspecified. |
schema | Technical term for an element declaration file. |
segment | Tag that allows additional information to be included in the context of an instance document; this information captures segment information such as an entity's business units, type of debt, type of other income, and so forth. |
sign value | Denotes whether a numeric fact in an instance has a positive (+) or negative (-) value. |
standard label | The default label for an element. An extension may override the standard label. |
table | An element that organizes a set of axes and a set of line items to indicate that each fact of one of the line items could be further characterized along one or more of its axes. For example, if a line item is Sales and an axis is Scenario, this means that an instance document could have facts that are either for an unspecified scenario or for a specific scenario such as 'actual or forecast.' |
tag (noun) | Identifying information that describes a unit of data in an instance document and encloses it in angle brackets (<> and ). All facts in an instance document are enclosed by tags that identify the element of the fact. |
tag (verb) | To apply tags to an instance document. |
taxonomy, taxonomies | Electronic dictionary of business reporting elements used to report business data. A taxonomy is composed of an element names file (.xsd) and relationships files directly referenced by that schema. The taxonomy schema files together with the relationships files define the concepts (elements) and relationships that form the basis of the taxonomy. The set of related schemas and relationships files altogether constitute a taxonomy. |
type or data type | Data types (monetary, string, share, decimal, and so forth) define the kind of data to be tagged with the element name. |
unit of measure | The units in which numeric items have been measured, such as dollars, shares, Euros, or dollars per share. |
validation | Process of checking that instance documents and taxonomies correctly meet the rules of the XBRL specification. |
weight | Calculation relationship attribute (-1 or +1) that works in conjunction with the balance of the parent and child numeric elements to determine the arithmetic summation relationship. |
Anchoring | Anchoring links an extension element created by a preparer, to an appropriate element in a base taxonomy. An example of anchoring is the wider/narrower relationship that defines an extension concept to be either wider or narrower in meaning or scope than the base taxonomy concept to which it is linked. Analysts, regulators and other users can use anchoring information to better interpret and compare information collected through the use of extension elements. |
Base taxonomy | A taxonomy that is used as the starting point for an extension taxonomy. |
Block tag | A single fact that contains the content of an entire section of a report. A block tag may include text, numeric values, tables and other data. A block tag provides the contents of the section as a single fact, rather than tagging each item contained within it as separate facts. A block tag is a type of text block that allows for less granular reporting. |
Built-in dimension | Dimensions that are defined by the XBRL specification, and which are required for all facts (depending on their datatype). For example, the 'period' built-in dimension defines the date or period in time to which a fact relates, and the 'unit' built-in dimension defines the units, such as a monetary currency, in which a numeric fact is reported. Taxonomies may add additional dimensions, referred to as taxonomy-defined dimensions [technical term: 'core dimension']. |
Business report | Any document that is used to convey information in order to satisfy a specific reporting requirement. Business reports are typically periodic in nature and can include company annual reports, risk reports, tax reports and internal enterprise performance reports. Business reports may include tabular data, descriptive text, individual numeric facts, charts, graphs, or any combination of the above. |
Business validation rules | Validation rules that are backed by requirements from the underlying business domain. Examples of business validation rules include checking that an appropriate currency has been used for monetary facts, checking that mandatory facts have been reported, and checking that numeric values pass appropriate calculation checks. Business validation rules may be included in a taxonomy as XBRL formula rules, enabling XBRL software to automatically check the quality of an XBRL report. These are included to improve data quality in a reporting programme. |
Calculation tree | Relationships between concepts in a taxonomy for the purpose of describing and validating simple totals and subtotals. [At a technical level, these relationships are defined using the summation-item arcrole in the XBRL specification] |
Closed reporting | A reporting programme in which the set of data points that is to be reported is prescribed completely by the collector of the reports. The process to be followed by a preparer in a closed reporting programme is analogous to completing a paper form, as the boxes that may be completed are prescribed completely by the creator of the form (although as with paper forms, closed reporting programmes may include specific points of flexibility, such as where rows in a table may be repeated as many times as required). |
Collector | A person or organisation that receives or retrieves XBRL reports for the purpose of collecting and/or analysing the data within them. Collectors may include (but are not limited to) regulators and other government agencies, stock exchanges collecting financials from listed companies, banks collecting credit risk reports, and companies collecting financial data for consolidation. |
Concept | A taxonomy element that provides the meaning for a fact. For example, 'Profit', 'Turnover', and 'Assets' would be typical concepts. [approximate technical term: concept (XBRL v2.1) or primary item (XBRL Dimensions). Concept, as defined here, excludes header and structural element. The term 'Line Item' will sometimes be used to refer to a concept.] |
Consumer | Final end users of the information collected in XBRL reports. |
Cube | A multi-dimensional definition of related data synonymous with a business intelligence or data warehousing 'cube'. A cube is defined by combining a set of dimensions with a set of concepts. Cubes are often referred to as 'hypercubes', as unlike a physical, 3-dimensional cube, a hypercube may have any number of dimensions. [Approximate technical term: 'hypercube'. Cube here is used to mean the combination of hypercubes in a single base set] |
Data point | Definition of an item that can be reported in an XBRL report. In technical terms, this is the combination a concept and a number of dimension values. A value may be reported against a data point to give a fact. |
Default member | See dimension default. |
Definitional taxonomy | A taxonomy that defines a dictionary of elements that is available for use in reporting taxonomies, and which is not meant to be referenced directly by an XBRL report. For example, an accounting standard setter may provide a definitional taxonomy containing all concepts, and separate reporting taxonomies for different industries or company types. |
Dimensional structure | The definition of cubes within a taxonomy. |
Dimension | A qualifying characteristic that is used to uniquely define a data point. For example, a fact reporting revenue may be qualified by a 'geography' dimension, to indicate the region to which the revenue relates. A dimension may be either a taxonomy-defined dimension or a built-in dimension. [Technical term: 'Aspect'] |
Dimension default | A domain member that provides a default value for a dimension for facts where the dimension is not reported explicitly. The dimension default typically represents the total of all members for that dimension. Also referred to as a default member. |
Dimension value | A value taken by a particular dimension when defining a data point. For example, the dimension value for the period built-in dimension would be a specific date or date range, the dimension value for an explicit taxonomy-defined dimension is a domain member and the dimension value for a typed taxonomy-defined dimension is a value that is valid against the format that has been specified in the taxonomy. |
Domain | A domain is a set of related values. Examples of different domains for use on a 'geography' dimension would be 'Countries', 'Continents' or 'States'. In XBRL, domains are defined using taxonomy elements that are used to group domain members. |
Domain member | An element representing one of the possibilities within a domain. These may be used as possible values for explicit taxonomy-defined dimensions or enumerations. |
Entity-specific disclosure | Disclosures included in a report that are specific to the reporting entity, or to a small number of reporting entities. Such disclosures require special handling in XBRL as it is not practical for the base taxonomy to include the concepts and domain members needed to report all such disclosures for all entities. In order to facilitate the tagging of such disclosures, mechanisms such as entity-specific extension taxonomies may be used. Entity-specific disclosures are common in open reporting environments, but do not occur in closed reporting environments. |
Entity-specific extension taxonomy | An extension taxonomy that is created by the preparer of an XBRL report in order to disclose information that is specific to the reporting entity (see entity-specific disclosure). |
Enumeration | Enumerations are a taxonomy-defined ordered list of values for a fact. When a concept is defined to be an enumeration type, then the preparer can only report value(s) from this list. For more information, see the enumerations in XBRL guidance. |
Extension element | A taxonomy element that is defined in an extension taxonomy. The term 'extension element' is preferred over the less precise 'extension'. |
Extension taxonomy | A taxonomy that is constructed using one or more other taxonomies (a base taxonomy) as a starting point. Extension taxonomies are typically created by a different entity from the author of the base taxonomy. Extension taxonomies may be created by preparers (see entity-specific extension taxonomy), or they may be created by a collector making use of a taxonomy from a third party such as an accounting standards body. |
Fact | A fact is an individual piece of information in an XBRL report. A fact is represented by reporting a value against a concept (e.g., profit, assets), and associating it with a number of dimension values (e.g., units, entity, period, other dimensions) that together uniquely define a data point. |
Filing | The file or set of files that is submitted to a collector. This will include an XBRL report and may include an extension taxonomy. |
Filing guidance | These are additional instructions and material usually provided in conjunction with filing rules, giving guidance that helps preparers to create filings correctly. For example, this might include guidance on selecting concepts or the scope of the tagging that should be applied. In general, the application of filing guidance cannot be automatically validated, and needs the judgement of the preparer to apply. |
Filing rules | Validation rules that are driven by the technical requirements of the reporting programme in order to ensure interoperability. Examples of filing rules include specifying which versions and modules of the XBRL specifications may be used in filings, any applicable file size limits, restrictions on if and how extension taxonomies should be constructed. Filing rules will usually be enforced by the collector's submission system. |
Header | Taxonomy elements that are used to provide headings and guidance in a concept hierarchy, such as the presentation tree. It is not possible to report a fact using a header element. [approximate technical term: 'abstract element'] |
Inline XBRL | See iXBRL report. The terms Inline XBRL and iXBRL are used interchangeably. |
iXBRL report | A single document that combines structured, computer-readable data with the preparer's presentation using the iXBRL (or Inline XBRL) standard. An iXBRL report provides the same XBRL data as other XBRL report formats, but embeds it into an HTML document that can be viewed in a web browser. By linking structured data and human-readable presentation into a single document, iXBRL provides the benefits of computer-readable structured data whilst enabling preparers to retain full control over the presentation of their reports. |
Label | A human readable description of a taxonomy component. XBRL labels can be defined in multiple languages and can be of multiple types, such as a 'standard label', which provides a concise name for the component, or a 'documentation label' which provides a more complete definition of the component. |
Open Information Model (OIM) | A strategic initiative to simplify and modernise XBRL. This initiative also produced the xBRL-JSON and xBRL-CSV report formats. For more information see Introducing the OIM. |
Open reporting | An environment where a preparer must make their own decisions about exactly which data points are to be reported. This is commonly found in financial reporting where the reporting requirements are expressed as a set of principles that must be followed, rather than a specific set of data points that must be reported. Open reporting environments may allow preparers to provide an extension taxonomy that defines any additional data points needed, although there are other approaches to implementing open reporting with XBRL. |
Non-automatable rules | Non-automatable rules are those which are mandatory but which cannot reasonably be enforced automatically. These would typically be checked using a manual or semi-automated process. An example of a non-automatable rule is, 'A calculation tree must be defined if the preparer's presentation shows two or more line items along with their net or total.' |
Preparer | A person or organisation that creates XBRL reports. |
Preparer's presentation | The human-readable presentation of a business report. The term is used to refer to the report as it would be presented on paper, PDF or HTML. This term is of particular relevance in open reporting environments, where preparers typically have significant control over the layout and presentation of a report. An iXBRL report embeds XBRL data into an HTML document, allowing a single document to provide both the preparer's presentation and structured data from an XBRL report. |
Presentation tree | The organisation of taxonomy elements into a hierarchical structure with the aim of providing a means of visualising or navigating the taxonomy. [At a technical level, the presentation tree is defined using the parent-child arcrole in the XBRL specification] |
Reference | A piece of structured information attached to a taxonomy component that provides a link to external information about the element. References are typically used to provide links to the definition of a taxonomy component in authoritative literature, such as the relevant accounting standard or legislation. A taxonomy component may have any number of references associated with it. Each reference is composed of a number of reference parts. |
Reference part | An individual component of a reference, for example 'Chapter 4', or 'Paragraph 3'. The XBRL standard provides a number of standard reference part types, such as 'Article', 'Chapter' and 'Section'. If necessary, taxonomies can define additional reference part types. |
Reporting taxonomy | A taxonomy used to define the contents of an XBRL report and against which reports are validated. Intended to be used directly by an XBRL report. See also, definitional taxonomy. |
Structural element | Taxonomy elements that are technical constructs for cubes, dimensions, domain and domain members. |
Tagging | The process of creating an XBRL report through selection of XBRL concepts, dimensions and other information and application to values in an existing business report in order to create facts. Tagging is one possible approach to the creation of XBRL reports. |
Taxonomy | A taxonomy links and defines a number of taxonomy components that provide the meaning for facts in an XBRL report. For example, a taxonomy for an accounting standard would include definitions of concepts such as 'Profit', 'Turnover', and 'Assets'. Taxonomies may contain a very rich set of information, including multi-language labels, links (known as references) to authoritative definitions (for example, accounting standards or relevant local laws), validation rules and other relationships. Physically, a taxonomy is usually stored in a set of files hosted on a website. |