Chapter 3 -
Understanding and Using Taxonomies
Learning Objectives
XBRL users must understand that a taxonomy is a description and classification system for
financial statement concepts. The taxonomy is organized by industry to facilitate entry point
selection, and it includes elements for mapping the financial statements.
What are Taxonomies?
A taxonomy is a description and classification system for concepts; an XBRL taxonomy is a
particular way to describe and classify reporting concepts. XBRL represents each concept as an
element with a name. The XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy describes and classifies elements
representing US GAAP reporting concepts. XBRL taxonomies are electronic, machine-readable
“dictionaries” consisting of many linked files containing thousands of elements linked to each
other. The taxonomy contains human-readable labels such as financial statement line item
captions, definitions, and applicable authoritative references for each element. The taxonomy
specifies other attributes for elements, as described in greater detail later in this section.
The XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy is based on generally accepted accounting principles in the
United States (US GAAP) and is intended for SEC registrants who file financial reports prepared
in accordance with US GAAP. The XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy has broad and deep coverage of
financial reporting concepts (over ten thousand elements) including all US GAAP and SEC
financial statement disclosure requirements and many elements for commonly followed reporting
practices. The taxonomy’s size and breadth minimizes the effort required to extend the
taxonomies to meet specific reporting needs.
However, even if every line item on the face of the financial statements of a company had a
corresponding element in the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy, the preparer would still need to
create an extension. This is because an extension taxonomy has more in it than just new elements
to represent company-specific line items. It also specifies the form of statements (direct vs.
indirect cash flow statement, for example), the ordering of line items, the disclosures that are
relevant, the names of segments, and other reporting details. See Chapter 6,
Creating Extensions.
Although the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomies v1.0 will be maintained and updated to reflect
changing US GAAP and SEC financial statement disclosure requirements, as well as changes in
common reporting practice, providing for every reporting possibility would be impossible.
Preparers should understand that:
• Meeting reporting requirements remains the registrant’s responsibility.
• The taxonomies should not be considered authoritative.
• The taxonomies do not create any authoritative guidance.
• The taxonomies should not be used as a GAAP disclosure checklist.
XBRL US GAAP Taxonomies v1.0
This guide focuses on the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy, the main taxonomy that will be used for
financial statement filings in the United States. The current release of the taxonomy was created
through the organized efforts of XBRL US, Inc. with resources and input from members of
XBRL US, public accounting firms, participants in the SEC’s Voluntary Financial Reporting
Program, securities analysts, and others.
The XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy will be maintained and updated and will be available to the
public on the XBRL US, Inc. website (www.xbrl.us). Annual revisions of the taxonomy are
expected, with releases during the year for reasons such as the issuance of new FASB guidance
or technical corrections. Although preparers are not responsible for maintaining and updating the
XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy, they are responsible for using the latest version of the taxonomy.
Rule: Use the most up-to-date version of the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy available on the
XBRL US, Inc. website including any published extensions (releases).
The XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy is written in computer language, but preparers may view and
read it by using publicly available software. In addition, instance documents of registrants
participating in the SEC Voluntary Financial Reporting Program appear on the SEC website and
may be viewed using one of the SEC’s free Interactive Financial Report Viewers, available along
with other XBRL-enabled tools at www.sec.gov/xbrl.
The XBRL US, Inc. website publishes the official copies of several taxonomies, collectively
referred to as the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomies v1.0, including:
• XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy – with several industry “entry points”:
– Commercial and Industrial (“CI”)
– Banking and Savings Institutions (“BASI”)
– Broker-Dealer (“BD”)
– Insurance (“INS”)
– Real Estate (“RE”)
– Other industries to be added in the future
• Non-GAAP Taxonomies
– Document and Entity Information
– Accountant’s Report on Financial Statements
– Management’s Reports on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
– Officer Certification Required by SEC Exchange Act Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-
14(a)
– Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)
The term “Non-GAAP” in this guide simply means mandatory requirements outside of the core
financial statements, notes, disclosures, and schedules; it does not mean “Non-GAAP measures”
in the sense of Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K.
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