The XBRL US Data Quality Committee (DQC) has finalized, approved, and published its 7th Ruleset which includes 13 types of validation checks for filings prepared using the US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy as well as two guidance documents. The DQC also published an 8th Ruleset for a public review and comment period, which ends on February 1, 2019. DQC rules and guidance are used by issuers to identify and correct errors in their SEC filings. The DQC, which is funded through the XBRL US Center for Data Quality, is responsible for developing guidance and validation rules that can prevent or detect inconsistencies or errors in XBRL data filed with the SEC. The DQC focuses on data quality issues that adversely affect data analysis. All approved rules and guidance are free and publicly available.

“Every rule developed by the DQC goes through a rigorous multi-step process to assess the impact of the rule, guard against false positives, and ensure that the rule message provides clear and unambiguous instruction,” said Lou Rohman, Chair of the DQC and Vice President, XBRL Services, Merrill Corporation, “We collect input from data providers, investors and analysts, issuers and service providers as we develop each ruleset, and we analyze historical filings submitted by all SEC filers.”

The 7th Approved Ruleset includes checks to identify errors related to axes, negative values, mutually exclusive elements, issues that can occur with pension data, and other error types. The ruleset also includes a guidance document and related rules for companies that have adopted the new revenue standard to be used in conjunction with the FASB’s Taxonomy Implementation Guide for “Revenue from Contracts with Customers”. A guidance document for Dimensional Modeling for Disclosures of Consolidated and Nonconsolidated Entities was also issued with this release.

The 8th Proposed Ruleset contains rules specifically for IFRS filers and focuses on negative values and extension errors for members that exist in the Country or State and Province taxonomies. A free webinar will be held on January 16 to present the rules. Register for the webinar: https://xbrl.us/events/20190116/

There are several options available to filers to use the rules:

  • Approved rules can be used through software that has been certified to run with the ruleset: https://xbrl.us/data-quality/certification/
  • Both Approved and Proposed rules can be used:
    • Through the XBRL US checking tool: https://xbrl.us/data-quality/rules-guidance/check-filing/
    • By downloading Ruleset 7 or 8 and using them with Arelle – the open source version of the SEC’s EDGAR Renderer/Previewer: https://github.com/DataQualityCommittee/dqc_us_rules/releases

To access the approved rules and guidance, go to: https://xbrl.us/rules-guidance/

Members of the XBRL US Center for Data Quality include Altova, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Broadridge Financial Solutions, Certent, DataTracks, Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN), Merrill Corporation, P3 Data Systems, RDG Filings, and Toppan Vintage. Merrill Corporation is a founding member of the Center for Data Quality.

For more information on the XBRL US Data Quality Committee and the Center for Data Quality, go to: http://xbrl.us/data-quality

About XBRL US

XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XBRL business reporting standards in the U.S. and represents the business information supply chain. Its mission is to support the implementation of business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies for use by U.S. public and private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting XBRL adoption through marketplace collaboration. XBRL US has developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP, credit rating and mutual fund reporting under contract with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and has developed industry-specific taxonomies for corporate actions, solar financing, and surety processing. http://xbrl.us

Links: 
Access the rules: https://xbrl.us/rules-guidance/ 
Learn about the XBRL US Center for Data Quality: https://xbrl.us/data-quality/center/ 
Find software that has been certified to run the rules: https://xbrl.us/data-quality/certification/ 
Register for the webinar: https://xbrl.us/events/20190116/