A Field Study on the Decision-Making and Implementation Processes for an Internal XBRL Business Application

• In Event: Emerging Research Papers

Abstract

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a global language used to represent business information. It is based on XML (extensible mark-up language) that is used to communicate business information between companies and can be shared through the Internet. It represents a business reporting revolution that provides transparent, accessible, readily available, and reusable business information by tagging the information with standardized XBRL concepts. A consortium of 600 companies works to develop and maintain XBRL and over 1,000 global companies and regulators support XBRL, which is an open, free reporting standard. XBRL based applications have been adopted by global regulators for tax, capital markets, and business registry filings. The United States, China, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany are examples of countries that have implemented XBRL applications to meet these reporting requirements. The characteristic that these implementations have in common is that the applications are used to meet a company’s or organization’s external reporting requirements. While XBRL has shown widespread global adoption for external reporting requirements, the same does not hold true for an internal adoption for financial and business reporting.
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that affect the decision-making process to adopt XBRL for an internal financial and business application and the factors that drive the implementation process after its selection. The study findings are analyzed to develop a best practices model for XBRL adoption decisions and implementation processes for an internal XBRL application. The combined best practices are used to develop a model framework for XBRL internal business application adoption and implementation.

This single study used a mixed methods sequential exploratory design using the grounded theory strategy of inquiry to explore the State of Nevada’s selection and implementation of an XBRL based internal debt collection system. The study consists of three phases: an initial field qualitative study with an organization that chose and implemented an XBRL system, a second qualitative inquiry phase with XBRL thought leaders to probe the results of the first phase, and finally a quantitative phase to validate the qualitative phases.

Author

• Kristine M Brands, Regis University