And that’s a wrap!
2017 has been an extremely important year for the global shift towards structured digital reporting using the XBRL standard. On the adoption front we’ve seen securities market regulators recognise that the technological and regulatory changes impacting capital allocation require a wholesale shift away from paper to data.
We’ve seen major countries, including Russia, adopt the standard for financial sector regulation. We’ve seen established jurisdictions double down on XBRL, taking advantage of the ecosystem of suppliers and experts to make reporting about financial services simpler.
We are seeing an expansion of collaborative, Standardised Business Reporting with XBRL in a number of new and existing environments. We’ve seen major strides in the work to bring XBRL based standardisation to the enterprise.
We’ve seen breakthrough innovation, bringing together XBRL technology with AI, with Big Data and even with Blockchain… and our community is only scratching the surface of what is possible, rapidly discovering that we are pushing on an open door in these arenas.
We’ve also seen our share of criticism, with concerns about data quality and utility, with cost and with complexity. To make reporting truly digital is a complex undertaking and requires collaboration, above everything else, to make it really work. In 2018 we will be doubling down on ways to resolve existing niggles and to enhance the way that XBRL works. We’ll also work to help educate people about the advances that have been, and are being made, in the shift from paper thinking to data thinking.
Collaboration and innovation abound within our working groups, with major steps forward this year in the simplification of the core XBRL standard and new capabilities to express XBRL reports in alternative syntax, including JSON and CSV… with much more to come. We’ve also made significant steps in developing a range of relevant guidance materials.
Our annual conference, Data Amplified, was a huge success and will be back bigger and better in 2018.
We started certifying XBRL software, and we engaged in countless discussions with policy makers, with international bodies, with regulators, with capital market executives and with regtech and fintech entrepreneurs to make the case for digital reporting and for standards, all over the world. We are all set to start the new year off with a collaborative dive into the next steps for our standard at a technical level.
So thank you to everyone we’ve worked with this year! To our members and stakeholders, wherever you are. To our volunteers, to our board members, to our team members. You are creating lasting and important change all over the world. Thank you for everything you’ve achieved in 2017.
We look forward to seeing you in 2018, which is when the newsletter will be back….. but for now, we hope you’ll be able to enjoy a break, a breather and a chance to catch up with your family and friends! Don’t know about you, but we are dog tired! Pip Pip! See you in January!
