Energy firms will soon begin 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 firms that have been submitting stories with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, however the taxonomy for tagging FERC types will be totally different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS
In many respects, the burden ought to be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will depend on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the essential 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 value (numeric or non-numeric), elements, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we detail under, you’ll notice quite a couple of variations with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION
Standard schedules enable for highly prescriptive tag assignments. That means no extra tagging from scratch. For example, the Workiva solution for FERC reporting provides customers with pre-tagged forms. These standardized pre-tagged types not only cut back preparation efforts significantly, in addition they reduce tagging inconsistencies—you can achieve higher information quality with much less effort.
Also, you aren’t required to tag every quantity. Notes to monetary statements require block tags solely. For example, if disclosure notes are pasted into FERC Form 1 from the 10-K you file with the SEC, those would be tagged with a single textual content block for FERC. A bonus for users of the Workiva resolution for SEC reporting and the Workiva solution for FERC reporting: You will be capable of link information in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and effectivity.
If no relevant XBRL concept is available, the knowledge is not to be tagged. However, if an relevant idea exists, FERC requires the data to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required information could also be reported inside footnotes for schedules.
Additionally, no extensions are allowed. Besides concepts, axes and members are additionally to be used as supplied. So, how do you report company-specific information, such as officer names? In order to assist reporting of company-specific info, FERC makes use of the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC uses a different technical specification, you will see the Workiva FERC reporting resolution provides the identical look and feel as axis/member utility within the Workiva resolution 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 mostly on type areas. Also, there aren’t any calculation to define. In fact, custom calculations aren’t permitted. Validation rules will handle consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns specific hypercube to each schedule, there is not a define structure to build. For users of Workiva for FERC reporting, that is automatically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, truth ordering is not controlled by the define and is not required. FERC uses a numeric factor “OrderNumber” to control sequencing of company-specific information. Users of the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting can easily assign row numbers in the type schedules as “OrderNumber” within the Workiva platform. Lastly, there are no custom dates as you’re limited to a small list of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY
Going forward, there is no digital kind to submit. Machine-readable knowledge is the necessary thing focus. Although not in iXBRL format, FERC’s official kind renderer will present standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL data.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA
Since most filing knowledge to the SEC is public record, the SEC doesn’t provide this, however FERC does. Whether FERC will truly approve a request for confidential knowledge is another question! If เกจวัดแรงดัน4บาร์ ‘ve an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, ensure your vendor also supports FERC compliance, since the FERC taxonomy won’t 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 preserve an in-house solution for FERC compliance, understanding the similarities and variations between XBRL filings for FERC and for the SEC will be essential when evaluating your choices.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Percy Hung is director of structured knowledge initiatives and Peter Larison is manager of structured knowledge initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a global software-as-a-service company. It offers a cloud-based related and reporting compliance platform that allows the utilization of linked information and automation of reporting across finance, accounting, threat, and compliance. For extra info, go to www.workiva.com
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