Digital Financial Reporting Principles

Digital Financial Reporting Principles

Summary of Common Sense Principles

• Recognize that the goal is the meaningful exchange of information, readable by both humans and machines.
• Meaningful exchange requires prior existence of agreed upon syntax, semantics, and workflow/process rules.
• Recognize that even if SEC filing rules and the US GAAP XBRL Taxonomy may allow for ambiguity; approaches do exist where SEC filings rules can be followed and information is consistent, explicit and unambiguous.
• Recognize that being explicit contributes to the unambiguous interpretation of reported information.
• Strive for consistency
• Recognize the difference between presentation and representation.
• Recognize that a financial report should be a true and fair representation.
• Recognize that financial reports contain a discrete set of report elements which have specific properties and relations.
• Recognize that report elements can be categorized into common groups which have common relevant properties.
• Recognize that each category of report elements has allowed and disallowed relations.
• Recognize that financial reports contain a discrete set of financial report component which can be categorized.
• Recognize and respect relations between Level 3 [Text Block]s and Level 4 Detail disclosures.
• Recognize the existence of and properly respect and represent intersections between report components.
• Recognize and respect fundamental accounting concepts and unchangeable relations between those accounting concepts
• Recognize and respect common report component arrangement patterns.
• Recognize and respect common concept arrangement patterns which indicate how a set of Concepts are organized within a [Line Items].
• Recognize and respect common member arrangement patterns.
• Avoid mixing or run-together concept arrangement patterns.
• Avoid mixing distinct characteristics and concepts.
• Recognize need for both automated and manual verification processes.
• Recognize that concepts cannot be moved between fundamental accounting concept categories.
• Avoid unknowingly changing information representation approach midstream.
• Avoid inconsistencies in network identification.
• Recognize that characteristics apply to all reported facts within a report component.
• Recognize that rendering engines render presentation differently but the meaning is the same across all rendering engines.
• Number of members in reported set does not change the characteristics of a reported fact.
• Label networks with meaningful information.