Educating for XBRL: What Knowledge and Skills do XBRL Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements Require?

• In Event: Finding and Fixing Accounting Problems

Abstract

What knowledge, skills and attributes (KSAs) are required in Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) engagements that include eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) tagged data? How should companies and firms mobilize to ensure sufficient stocks of relevant KSAs for these engagements? This study investigates these issues using two methods: (1) a survey (n ~ 48) and (2) structured interviews (n ~ 19) of accounting professionals with XBRL expertise. Survey (Study 1) results suggest commonality in perceptions of the KSAs needed in two knowledge categories, “Accounting and Financial Reporting” and “Undertaking AUP on XBRL Instance Documents”, and, variability in ratings of two categories: “XBRL technology” and “audit procedures”. Interview (Study 2) results indicate that knowledge of the US GAAP Taxonomy is most important to AUP engagements, followed by the nature of AUPs engagements. Interview respondents also stated that accounting and auditing knowledge is slightly more important than XBRL knowledge to AUP engagements. The results provide insight into the KSAs needed by future auditors in XBRL-related engagements and suggest a potential role, currently largely unfilled, of universities in supporting and developing these KSAs.

Authors

• Roger S Debreceny, University of Hawaii-Manoa

• Stephanie Farewell, University of Arkansas-Little Rock

• Audrey Nicole Scarlata, Middle Tennessee State University

• Dan N Stone, University of Kentucky