Why do we have Software Certification?
XBRL International strongly encourages all software providers to get their software certified annually in order to guarantee that their product is fit-for-purpose. XBRL Certified Software™ has been tested against a rigorous and objective set of conformance suites that are produced alongside the XBRL specifications.
Software certification is crucial to ensuring interoperability. An XBRL or iXBRL report created in one piece of software must always open correctly and convey the same information in another.
Interoperability errors can cause serious problems at all levels of the reporting supply chain. For example, if there are interoperability issues between the software used by a filer and a regulator an XBRL filing could be rejected by the regulator. This could result in a filer missing a filing deadline. Even if the filing was to be accepted by a regulator, interoperability issues could have an impact on public interpretation of data. Depending on their software, some users may not be able to open a filing, and the data could be misinterpreted, leading to inaccurate analysis.
XBRL International’s affordable, objective certification proves that the product is effective and fit-for-purpose – preventing high quality software being undercut by sub-par software.
Covering both report consumption and report creation software, certification is necessary to prove that the software correctly meets the growing list of specifications – and it is increasingly required by regulators.
The bottom line is, if you’re a software provider in this field and you don’t yet meet these requirements you’ll be quickly outstripped by competitors. And if you are responsible for selecting solutions, make sure that they will work by demanding certification.
