What is digital reporting?
Digital reporting is the electronic preparation and submission of financial and non-financial information in a structured, machine-readable format.
Historically, annual reports and financial statements were prepared as paper documents or static files such as Word, Excel or PDF. Data had to be read, extracted and compared manually. Digital reporting reduces that manual effort by allowing regulators, government bodies, businesses, accountants, analysts and other stakeholders to access, process and compare reported information more efficiently.
What is iXBRL?
In the UK, electronic filing in iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format became compulsory for HMRC (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs) from April 2011. iXBRL is the format used to file accounts electronically and combines a human-readable version of the accounts with embedded machine-readable data.
The key difference between XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and iXBRL is that XBRL is designed primarily for computers to read, whereas iXBRL can be read both by people and by software systems.
All UK companies must file their corporate tax computation and statutory accounts in iXBRL format or risk penalties.
What is tagging?
Tagging is the process of marking up information in the accounts so that each figure or disclosure can be understood by the receiving system.
For example, a profit before tax figure is linked to the appropriate tag in the relevant taxonomy, allowing HMRC or Companies House systems to identify what the figure represents. Standardised tags improve consistency, support better risk assessment, reduce processing costs, and make it easier to compare information across companies, sectors and reporting periods.
What is a taxonomy?
A taxonomy is a digital dictionary of available tags. Different taxonomies are used for different reporting frameworks, jurisdictions, and statutory requirements, and they are usually organised to follow the structure of a set of accounts.
Each tag defines the type of information being reported and may include rules such as the expected data type, permitted values, currency, and relationships with other items. In practice, taxonomies provide the common language that enables digital reports to be prepared, filed, and analysed consistently.
How Thomson Reuters can help
Thomson Reuters supplies tagging software that produces correctly tagged reports.
Our accounts production solutions automate the production of final accounts and convert them into iXBRL format in one process. You also get customisable report templates, automatic rounding, and built-in validation. Our corporation tax software produces tax computations in iXBRL format.
Speed up iXBRL tagging
Drill down through the report to select the appropriate tag – saving you time.
Review and validate iXBRL tags
Easily spot missing tags and perform a validation check on each tag or edit.
Comply with current legislation
Have confidence that our software contains the correct taxonomies.
Solutions for accountancy practices
Digita Accounts Production lets you prepare compliant final accounts and file online to Companies House. Choose from a range of legislative and iXBRL-compliant financial reporting templates that can be branded and edited for each client.
Learn more about Digita Accounts Production
Digita Corporation Tax produces corporation tax computations in iXBRL format, with figures imported directly from Accounts Production.
Learn more about Digita Corporation Tax
Solutions for corporations
ONESOURCE Statutory Reporting and ONESOURCE Corporate Tax help finance departments prepare and file iXBRL-compliant reports.
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