SEC's XBRL Voluntary Program on Edgar: The Case for Quality Assurance

16 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2008 Last revised: 26 Jul 2014

See all articles by J. Efrim Boritz

J. Efrim Boritz

University of Waterloo - School of Accounting and Finance

Won Gyun No

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Accounting & Information Systems

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Date Written: July 19, 2008

Abstract

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) was developed to provide users with an efficient and effective means of preparing and exchanging financial information over the Internet. After years of development, XBRL is now in the implementation stage, with many companies, governments, regulators, and stock exchanges around the world implementing or planning to adopt XBRL for electronic filing of financial statements. In this paper, we examine the XBRL fillings in the SEC's XBRL Voluntary Filing Program (VFP) on EDGAR from its inception to December 31, 2007 and report findings from our observations and validation tests. We identify persistent and increasing quality control and assurance issues pertaining to the filings under the VFP and discuss potential countermeasures needed to ensure that XBRL filings are reliable and gain user confidence and acceptance.

Keywords: XBRL, XBRL Voluntary Program on EDGAR, XBRL Quality Assurance Issues

Suggested Citation

Boritz, Efrim and No, Won Gyun, SEC's XBRL Voluntary Program on Edgar: The Case for Quality Assurance (July 19, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1163254 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1163254

Efrim Boritz (Contact Author)

University of Waterloo - School of Accounting and Finance ( email )

200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 N2L 3G1
Canada
519-888-4567 (Phone)
519-888-7562 (Fax)

Won Gyun No

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Accounting & Information Systems

1 Washington Park, Room 993
Newark, NJ 07102-3122
United States

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