XBRL Work Shop at ICGFM Conference

Liv Watson managed an XBRL workshop at the 24th Annual Conference on Public Financial Management. This is a follow-up from her presentation XBRL: The Language of Government 2.0. Attendees to the conference were very interested in the use of XBRL in government. Ms. Watson encouraged attendees to read XBRL documents on-line.

Many countries do not mandate the use of XBRL. XBRL often becomes widely adopted according to Ms. Watson. Regulation sometimes follows adoption.

Global adoption drivers according to Ms. Watson include:

• Economics to reduce administrative burden, support multiple languages easily
  
• Support global standards and pressure from large international organizations
• IFRS adoption and GAAP alignment
  
• Support for capital market transparency
• Alignment in regulatory consistency
• Basel II banking supervision
  
• Integrate with multiple standards such as ISO, W3C, Swift, OECD

The workshops identified many drivers for XBRL adoption in their countries:

• Support frequent legislative changes, particularly for changes to reporting standards
• Legislature or Ministry of Finance may drive adoption
  
• Pressure from funding agencies for proper tracking
• Improved budget planning
• Support of decentralized reporting such as from municipalities to the central government
  
• Improved data collection through standards in areas such as taxation, land registration
• Integration of tax information with procurement processes
• Ease of audit through supreme audit institutions
• Encouragement from international organizations and development partners
• Improved statistical information for regulators
• Trade facilitation for regional and global trading organizations
• Ease of business registration
• Media and civil society may put pressure on governments
• Globalization affect where countries that are more transparent will be seen as more stable for business
• Demands for government transparency
• Faster closing of government accounts and production of reports