Energy firms will soon begin reporting quarterly and annual financial and operational data in XBRL format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public corporations that have been submitting stories with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, but the taxonomy for tagging FERC varieties might be different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS
In many respects, the burden should be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will rely on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the basic constructing blocks of XBRL implementation in enterprise reporting) and the Arelle open-source XBRL validation engine. And a “fact” in both reviews is represented by a worth (numeric or non-numeric), elements, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we detail below, you’ll notice quite a quantity of differences with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION
Standard schedules enable for extremely prescriptive tag assignments. That means no extra tagging from scratch. For instance, the Workiva solution for FERC reporting supplies customers with pre-tagged types. These standardized pre-tagged types not only scale back preparation efforts considerably, additionally they reduce tagging inconsistencies—you can achieve greater information high quality with much less effort.
Also, you aren’t required to tag every quantity. Notes to monetary statements require block tags solely. For instance, if disclosure notes are pasted into FERC Form 1 from the 10-K you file with the SEC, these would be tagged with a single text block for FERC. A bonus for customers of the Workiva resolution for SEC reporting and the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting: You will be in a position to hyperlink data in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and efficiency.
If no applicable XBRL concept is out there, the knowledge is not to be tagged. However, if an relevant concept exists, FERC requires the knowledge to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required information may be reported within footnotes for schedules.
Additionally, no extensions are allowed. Besides concepts, axes and members are also to be used as supplied. So, how do you report company-specific information, such as officer names? In order to help reporting of company-specific info, FERC uses the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC makes use of a special technical specification, you will see the Workiva FERC reporting solution offers the same appear and feel as axis/member application within the Workiva answer for SEC reporting.
NO OUTLINE MANAGEMENT OR CUSTOM DATES
For FERC reporting, no customized labels or label roles are needed. Labels are auto-assigned by the official FERC renderer based on kind places. Also, there aren’t any calculation to define. In reality, custom calculations aren’t permitted. Validation rules will handle consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns particular hypercube to every schedule, there isn’t any define structure to build. For customers of Workiva for FERC reporting, this is mechanically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, fact ordering just isn’t managed by the define and isn’t required. FERC uses a numeric element “OrderNumber” to control sequencing of company-specific information. Users of the Workiva answer for FERC reporting can simply assign row numbers within the type schedules as “OrderNumber” in the Workiva platform. Lastly, there are no custom dates as you’re restricted to a small listing of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY
Going forward, there isn’t a digital type to submit. Machine-readable data is the key focus. Although not in iXBRL format, FERC’s official type renderer will provide standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL knowledge.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA
Since most submitting knowledge to the SEC is public report, the SEC doesn’t provide this, but FERC does. Whether เครื่องมือความดัน will really approve a request for confidential information is one other question! If you’ve an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, make certain your vendor also helps FERC compliance, for the explanation that FERC taxonomy will not be the same because the SEC reporting taxonomy.
PREPARE FOR YOUR NEEDS
Whether you outsource XBRL tagging, choose an XBRL software vendor, or make investments the time and money to build and maintain an in-house solution for FERC compliance, understanding the similarities and differences between XBRL filings for FERC and for the SEC might be essential when evaluating your options.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Percy Hung is director of structured knowledge initiatives and Peter Larison is supervisor of structured information initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a global software-as-a-service firm. It supplies a cloud-based connected and reporting compliance platform that permits the use of linked information and automation of reporting across finance, accounting, danger, and compliance. For extra data, visit www.workiva.com
Share