XBRL-based Digital Financial Reporting

Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.  What I am trying to point out with that statement is that doing the wrong things over, and over, and over again to get your "10,000 hours" in does not make you an expert.  Doing the right things the right way makes you an expert. The world is pivoting, a transition is occurring.  My take on that transition is articulated in my document The Great Transmutation . You can believe my view of the world or not.  If you are a believer then it might seem apparent that we need more people that understand how to do XBRL-based digital financial reporting appropriately. Marcus Köhnlein posted information on LinkedIn, How to become an expert , that provides general information about how to become an expert in some field and this helpful graphic: Here is the general, detailed list from that post above.  That is a decent list.  I don't think that there is a specific ordering to the list. Identify what you're...

My PROOF  (and my other examples ) provide examples of a global standard XBRL-based knowledge assembly of a financial reporting scheme , a financial report model created by a reporting economic entity using that financial reporting scheme, and a financial report using that financial report model that is based on the financial reporting scheme.  That entire knowledge assembly is validated using a rules engine that is specialized for this specific type of knowledge assembly to verify that the report and report model are complete, consistent, and precise. This mechanism is described by the Seattle Method . That knowledge assembly contains data and meta data related to financial accounting and financial reporting.   The physical syntax of the entire knowledge assembly is global standard XBRL .  The XBRL technical syntax is used to define logical terms, structures, associations, assertions, restrictions, constraints, and facts. The logical model of a financ...

I ran across a new term, knowledge assembly , which is used to explain some important ideas related to the idea of a knowledge graph or knowledge graph system .  Similar terms are  knowledge fabric  or data fabric or data mesh  or information mesh .  Allow me to explain. Hetionet provides an example of what they refer to as a knowledge assembly.  Hetionet is a demonstration of connecting multiple databases of information (an “assembly") that contain data and meta data related to biomedicine. A similar sort of knowledge assembly for a financial reporting scheme which is a subset of finance .  There is knowledge that is common to all financial reporting schemes such as the double entry bookkeeping model and the accounting equation. The logical model of a financial report is part of that assembly.  The conceptual framework of the financial reporting scheme is a part of the knowledge assembly.  The different reporting styles permitted by that ...

The risk is increasing more and more.  Bet wisely.  I found it really strange that, in 1982 when I began my career in accounting, I had to work hard to convince businesses of the benefits of computerized accounting systems as contrast to the paper-based accounting systems that were contemporary at the time.  Well, that changed. If you are betting on XBRL-based digital financial reporting, then here is my best summary of the information I have learned over the past 20 years on this topic, Essentials of XBRL-based Digital Financial Reporting . I am not a professional educator.  I would invite professional educators to take what I have created and create something better.  Consider what I have provided as raw material that is helpful in creating XBRL-based digital financial reporting master craftsmen (craftspersons). Additional Information : Rise of the AiAccountants How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Accounting Industry  (FinAccurate) Artificial I...

The combination of XBRL International's global standard technical syntax XBRL plus the clear logical conceptualization of a business report defined by OMG's forthcoming Standard Business Report Model (SBRM) is looking more and more like an improved version of BI (Business Intelligence) software. Here is a prototype you can use to think about my statement: Prototype reporting model  (note that this is not financial information) Prototype report model (machine readable XBRL, here is human readable version ) Prototype report (machine readable XBRL instance, here is human readable version ) Verification Results  (human readable results provided by ISO standard  PROLOG-based logic engine ) And so why is XBRL+SBRM based business intelligence better than current OLAP based BI offerings?  Here is a list of the reasons that I see (improved version of my old list ): OLAP is “read” only; XBRL+SBRM is "read-write". Basically, XBRL + SBRM = Semantic Spreadsheet . OLAP “ cube...

As pointed out in a paper published by the Institute of General Semantics by George Doris in the paper, KORZYBSKI AND GENERAL SEMANTICS* , communications is hard.   Communication is the fight against confusion.  Whether it is the “speaker” versus “listener” or “writer” versus “reader” or “information bearer” versus “information receiver”; there is a process and the process tends to be a struggle.   But effective communication based on a common, shared understanding has its reward and the problem is solvable. It takes deliberate conscious effort to maintain semantic hygiene. The Seattle Method provides the sematic hygiene necessary to effectively implement XBRL-based digital financial reporting.  The Seattle Method leverages the characteristics of financial reporting such as articulation .  This enables the creation of new tools for accounting and audit professionals . Testing properly, deliberately, and rigorously is a good thing . Additional Informa...

As Steve Jobs pointed out in the video Product Development from Idea to Product ; there is a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between having a great idea and creating a great product.  Designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain and fitting them all together in new and different ways to get what you want.  That process is the magic. Yet, if you do the work and you put the pieces together brick by brick then you might come up with something better, faster, and/or cheaper than the contemporary tools that currently exist. Today, accountants and auditors tend to be overwhelmed because the contemporary tools of professional accountants and auditors are using are not up to the task.  One example of being overwhelmed is the PCAOB pointing out the completely unacceptable state of audit quality . The problem is that tools have not kept up with the increasing complexity of economic entities such as the multinational corporation, the increased complexity of infor...

Accounting is a universal technology for accountability . Accounting is a profession.  And that profession has created professional tools for performing the work of the profession.  One of those tools is the double entry bookkeeping model.  That model, called the Venetian Method, is an industry global standard. The double entry bookkeeping model makes professional accountants very different from the average person that does accounting.  With the professional tool of the double entry bookkeeping model, accountants can (a) more easily detect errors and (b) differentiate an unintentional error from an intentional error (i.e. fraud). It is said, and it has been my observation given 40+ years as a professional accountant, that "Where there are people there is fraud." The book Fool Me Once points out that fraud is a trillion dollar industry.  Given a gross world product of $84 trillion; total fraud is about 1% of economic activity (my rough estimate here, one trilli...

I am experimenting with putting all of my documents onto Google Docs to make them easier to access, make sure they are available, etc. I will start this experiment by putting Essentials of XBRL-based Digital Financial Reporting (PLATINUM) into Google Docs. Let me know what you think of this idea.  If I do this, maybe I would put each of the document in Mastering XBRL-based Digital Financial Reporting into Google Docs. Additional Information : 13 Advantages and Disadvantages of Google Docs