The Quality of Interactive Data: XBRL versus Compustat, Yahoo Finance, and Google Finance

• In Event: XBRL and E-commerce

Abstract

The issue of the quality of interactive data is of interest to all stakeholders in the evolution of XBRL since the adoption of XBRL is often premised on the value of making business data available to users in a standardized, shareable format. Proponents of XBRL claim that XBRL-tagged data obtained directly form the company or from a regulator’s website such as the SEC’s EDGAR, in contrast with data obtained from aggregators such as Compustat, are the closest and most accurate reflection of the company’s intended communication in their official financial reports. However, to date, there has been no formal study of the similarities and differences between XBRL-tagged data filed with the SEC and data provided by aggregators. This study investigates the similarities and differences between companies XBRL-tagged data filed with the SEC and the data items reported by three prominent data aggregators: Compustat, Google Finance, and Yahoo Finance. We find that there are differences in the number of mismatches between XBRL-tagged interactive data and aggregators’ data. The overall rate of mismatch is about 2%, but this differs for the three statements studied: Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and the Statement of Cash Flows. The differences are most pronounced in the Income Statement, but they decline over the three year period studied. Furthermore, the material differences are lower in Compustat than Google Finance and Yahoo Finance and are most pronounced in Balance Sheet.

Authors

• Won Gyun No, Iowa State University

• Jefim Efrim Boritz, University of Waterloo