Energy corporations will soon start reporting quarterly and annual monetary and operational knowledge in XBRL format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public corporations which have been submitting reviews with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, however the taxonomy for tagging FERC varieties shall be different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS
In many respects, the burden must be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will rely on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the fundamental building blocks of XBRL implementation in enterprise reporting) and the Arelle open-source XBRL validation engine. And a “fact” in each stories is represented by a worth (numeric or non-numeric), elements, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we element beneath, you’ll notice quite a couple of differences with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION
Standard schedules allow for extremely prescriptive tag assignments. That means no more tagging from scratch. For example, the Workiva answer for FERC reporting offers customers with pre-tagged forms. These standardized pre-tagged forms not solely reduce preparation efforts considerably, additionally they minimize tagging inconsistencies—you can achieve greater knowledge quality with less effort.
Also, you aren’t required to tag each quantity. Notes to monetary statements require block tags only. For example, if disclosure notes are pasted into FERC Form 1 from the 10-K you file with the SEC, those can be tagged with a single text block for FERC. A bonus for customers of the Workiva solution for SEC reporting and the Workiva answer for FERC reporting: You will have the flexibility to link information in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and effectivity.
If no applicable XBRL concept is out there, the knowledge is to not 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 ideas, axes and members are additionally for use as supplied. So, how do you report company-specific data, similar to officer names? In order to help reporting of company-specific information, FERC uses the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC uses a special technical specification, you will notice the Workiva FERC reporting answer presents the same look and feel as axis/member software within the Workiva answer for SEC reporting.
NO OUTLINE MANAGEMENT OR CUSTOM DATES
For FERC reporting, no custom labels or label roles are needed. Labels are auto-assigned by the official FERC renderer based mostly on form areas. Also, there aren’t any calculation to define. In fact, customized calculations usually are not permitted. Validation rules will handle consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns specific hypercube to every schedule, there is no define construction to construct. For customers of Workiva for FERC reporting, this is mechanically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, truth ordering isn’t managed by the define and isn’t required. FERC uses a numeric element “OrderNumber” to manage sequencing of company-specific information. Users of the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting can simply assign row numbers in the form schedules as “OrderNumber” in the Workiva platform. Lastly, there aren’t any customized dates as you’re limited to a small record of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY
Going forward, there is no digital kind to submit. Machine-readable information is the necessary thing focus. Although not in iXBRL format, FERC’s official kind renderer will provide standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL knowledge.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA
Since most filing data to the SEC is public document, the SEC doesn’t provide this, but FERC does. Whether compound gauge ราคา will actually approve a request for confidential knowledge is one other question! If you’ve an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, make sure your vendor additionally supports FERC compliance, for the reason that FERC taxonomy will not be the identical because the SEC reporting taxonomy.
PREPARE FOR YOUR NEEDS
Whether you outsource XBRL tagging, choose an XBRL software program vendor, or invest the money and time to construct and maintain an in-house solution for FERC compliance, understanding the similarities and differences between XBRL filings for FERC and for the SEC will be crucial when evaluating your options.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Percy Hung is director of structured data initiatives and Peter Larison is manager of structured data initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a world software-as-a-service company. It supplies a cloud-based related and reporting compliance platform that permits the usage of linked knowledge and automation of reporting across finance, accounting, risk, and compliance. For extra info, visit www.workiva.com
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