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 companies that have been submitting stories with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, however the taxonomy for tagging FERC forms might be different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS
In many respects, the burden ought to be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will rely on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the basic building blocks of XBRL implementation in business reporting) and the Arelle open-source XBRL validation engine. And a “fact” in each reports is represented by a worth (numeric or non-numeric), elements, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we detail under, you’ll notice quite a few differences with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION
Standard schedules enable for extremely prescriptive tag assignments. That means no more tagging from scratch. For example, the Workiva answer for FERC reporting provides customers with pre-tagged types. These standardized pre-tagged types not only reduce preparation efforts significantly, additionally they decrease tagging inconsistencies—you can achieve greater data high quality with less effort.
Also, you aren’t required to tag each 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 could be tagged with a single textual content block for FERC. A bonus for users of the Workiva resolution for SEC reporting and the Workiva answer for FERC reporting: You will be succesful of hyperlink info in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and efficiency.
If no applicable XBRL concept is on the market, the information is not to be tagged. However, if an relevant idea exists, FERC requires the knowledge to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required data may be reported within footnotes for schedules.
Additionally, ไดอะแฟรม are allowed. Besides concepts, axes and members are additionally for use as provided. So, how do you report company-specific information, similar to officer names? In order to assist reporting of company-specific information, FERC uses the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC makes use of a different technical specification, you will notice the Workiva FERC reporting solution presents the identical appear and feel as axis/member application in the Workiva resolution 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 primarily based on form places. Also, there are no calculation to define. In truth, customized calculations are not permitted. Validation rules will handle consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns particular hypercube to each schedule, there is not any define construction to construct. For users of Workiva for FERC reporting, this is mechanically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, truth ordering isn’t managed by the outline and is not required. FERC uses a numeric element “OrderNumber” to regulate sequencing of company-specific info. ไดอะแฟรม ซีล of the Workiva answer for FERC reporting can easily assign row numbers in the kind schedules as “OrderNumber” in the Workiva platform. Lastly, there are not any customized dates as you’re restricted to a small list of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY
Going forward, there is not a digital kind to submit. Machine-readable information is the key focus. Although not in iXBRL format, FERC’s official form renderer will present standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL information.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA
Since most submitting knowledge to the SEC is public report, the SEC doesn’t offer this, however FERC does. Whether FERC will really approve a request for confidential information is one other question! If you have an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, make certain your vendor additionally supports FERC compliance, since the 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 money and time to construct and preserve an in-house resolution for FERC compliance, understanding the similarities and variations between XBRL filings for FERC and for the SEC shall be essential when evaluating your options.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Percy Hung is director of structured data initiatives and Peter Larison is manager of structured knowledge initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a world software-as-a-service firm. It provides a cloud-based connected and reporting compliance platform that enables the use of linked data and automation of reporting across finance, accounting, risk, and compliance. For more data, go to www.workiva.com
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