Energy companies will soon start reporting quarterly and annual financial and operational knowledge in XBRL format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public companies which were submitting stories with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, however the taxonomy for tagging FERC forms will be completely different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS
In many respects, the burden must be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will depend on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the fundamental constructing 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 price (numeric or non-numeric), elements, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we element beneath, you’ll notice quite a few differences with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION
Standard schedules allow for extremely prescriptive tag assignments. That means no extra tagging from scratch. For instance, the Workiva solution for FERC reporting supplies customers with pre-tagged varieties. These standardized pre-tagged forms not only reduce preparation efforts significantly, additionally they decrease tagging inconsistencies—you can obtain greater data high quality with much less effort.
Also, you are not required to tag every number. Notes to financial statements require block tags solely. For instance, if disclosure notes are pasted into FERC Form 1 from the 10-K you file with the SEC, those can be tagged with a single textual content block for FERC. A bonus for users of the Workiva solution for SEC reporting and the Workiva solution for FERC reporting: You will be succesful of link info in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and effectivity.
If no applicable XBRL concept is out there, the information is to not be tagged. However, if an relevant concept exists, FERC requires the knowledge to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required data could additionally be reported inside footnotes for schedules.
Additionally, no extensions are allowed. Besides concepts, axes and members are also for use as offered. So, how do เกจวัดแก๊ส report company-specific info, similar to officer names? In order to assist reporting of company-specific info, FERC uses the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC uses a special technical specification, you will see the Workiva FERC reporting answer presents the identical feel and appear as axis/member application within the Workiva solution 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 on form locations. Also, there aren’t any calculation to define. In truth, custom calculations usually are not permitted. Validation rules will deal with consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns specific hypercube to every schedule, there isn’t any outline structure to build. For customers of Workiva for FERC reporting, that is routinely managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, fact ordering is not controlled by the outline and is not required. FERC uses a numeric component “OrderNumber” to manage sequencing of company-specific info. Users of the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting can simply assign row numbers in the type schedules as “OrderNumber” within the Workiva platform. Lastly, there are no customized dates as you’re limited to a small listing of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY
Going ahead, there isn’t a digital form to submit. Machine-readable knowledge is the vital thing focus. Although not in iXBRL format, FERC’s official form renderer will present standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL data.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA
Since most filing knowledge to the SEC is public report, the SEC doesn’t provide this, however FERC does. Whether FERC will truly approve a request for confidential information is another question! If you’ve an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, ensure your vendor additionally supports FERC compliance, for the explanation that FERC taxonomy will not be the identical because the SEC reporting taxonomy.
PREPARE FOR YOUR NEEDS
Whether you outsource XBRL tagging, select an XBRL software program vendor, or make investments the money and time to construct and preserve an in-house resolution 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 information initiatives and Peter Larison is manager of structured knowledge initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a world software-as-a-service company. It supplies a cloud-based related and reporting compliance platform that enables using connected knowledge and automation of reporting throughout finance, accounting, danger, and compliance. For extra info, go to www.workiva.com
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