A tale of an evolving standard: XBRL reporting for U.S. local governments

• In Event: Breakfast/Research Roundtable Session

Abstract

In the U.S., the recent emphasis on greater governmental data transparency reflects the growing social demand for financial and efficiency accountability by the federal and local governments to their citizens and other stakeholders. As of 2014, the federal government is integrating XBRL (https://www.usaspending.gov/Documents/DATA%20Act%20Schema%20Summary.pdf) as the reporting language of choice for the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or (DATA Act). This digital reporting language will also be used by recipients of federal grants for filing spending reports. XBRL has been demonstrated in many environments to improve data transparency. This study examines the current government reporting practices in the US and compares it to various international initiatives in countries that adopted XBRL reporting. For example, in Brazil the federal government has already begun implementation of XBRL at the federal and state reporting levels under a nation-wide mandate. This research also demonstrates with a proof-of-concept the possibility of modeling and extending this XBRL integration in the U.S. to Single Audit reports. To do this, this paper examines the over-lap between the single audit elements and those found in the taxonomy which was developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and US treasury. By extending this taxonomy, it would be possible to generate such reports using the same data sources, thus reducing the burden of redundant and dissaggregate reporting. This paper also contributes to the stream of existing research that demonstrates the global nature of government practices, where successful approaches in one country can be inspirational adoptions in another.

Authors

• Deniz A Appelbaum, Rutgers University - Newark

• Deniz A Appelbaum, Rutgers University - Newark

• Hussein Issa, Rutgers Business School

• Stephen Kozlowski, Rutgers Business School