Breaking Down XBRL: “eXtensible Business Reporting Language”

Summary: Global digital standard for accounting.

XBRL, or “eXtensible Business Reporting Language”, is a standard digital format used globally for financial reporting. If you stumble upon files ending in .xml or .xbrl, they’re following the XBRL format.

Now, say a company needs to submit its annual returns accompanied by financial statements. These documents are required to be in the XBRL format. However, certain types of companies are given a bit of leeway. They can submit financial statement highlights that present only the key financial data rather than a full-fledged XBRL submission.