Resources
iXBRL glossary
Plain-language definitions of the XBRL and SEC reporting terms used in iXBRL filings, from concepts and contexts to dimensions, units and validation.
A
- Abstract element
- A concept that exists only to organize a taxonomy, such as a heading over a group of other concepts. It never carries a value, so no fact is reported against it.
- Axis
- A dimension, in the taxonomy’s own word for it: a way of breaking one concept into parts, such as by segment or by product. Each axis has a domain of possible members. Read the guide
B
- Balance type
- Whether a monetary concept is a debit or a credit. It helps decide the sign of a fact’s value, which can differ from the figure as printed in a table. Read the guide
- Block tag
- A tag around a whole block of text, such as a note, a policy or a table, so that the block is one fact. It makes the block readable as a unit and carries no individual amounts.
C
- Calculation relationship
- A rule in a taxonomy that says one concept is the sum of others, each with a weight. Checking it shows whether a total agrees with its parts. Read the guide
- Central Index Key
- The number the SEC assigns to identify each filer. In a filing it names the entity that the facts belong to.
- Concept
- A named piece of meaning in a taxonomy, such as revenue or cash. A fact reports a value for a concept in a given context. Read the guide
- Context
- The setting a fact is reported in: the entity, the period and any dimension members. Facts that share all three share one context. Read the guide
- Cover page tagging
- Tagging the facts on the cover page of a form, such as the registrant’s name, its file number and the class of its securities. The SEC requires it for several forms.
D
- Decimals
- A property of a numeric fact that says how precise its value is, as a count of digits after the decimal point, or before it when negative. It lets a fact say, for example, that it is rounded to thousands.
- Detail tagging
- Tagging each amount inside a footnote as a fact of its own, in addition to the footnote’s block tag. It is what makes the figures in the notes usable as data.
- Dimension
- A way of describing a fact beyond its concept and period, so that one concept can be reported for each part of a whole. The parts are called members. Read the guide
- Dimension default
- The member that stands for the whole when a fact names no member on an axis. It lets a total sit on the same axis as its parts without a member of its own.
- Document and Entity Information
- The taxonomy that holds the cover page’s facts, such as the registrant’s name, the form type and the fiscal year. Every filing uses it.
- Domain
- The set of members an axis can take, such as all of a company’s reportable segments.
- Duplicate fact
- Two facts that report the same concept in the same context. If their values agree they do no harm, and if they disagree they produce an XBRL error. Read the guide
- Duration
- A period of time with a start date and an end date, such as a fiscal year. Flow measures like revenue are reported over a duration.
E
- EDGAR
- The SEC’s electronic system for receiving and publishing company filings. Every filing on it is validated before it is accepted.
- EDGAR Filer Manual
- The SEC’s technical manual for filing electronically. Among much else, its rules say how a form’s cover page and other data must be tagged.
- Entity identifier
- The identifier of the reporting entity inside a context. In a filing it is the registrant’s Central Index Key, and it says whose facts they are.
- Expected fact
- A fact that a filing of a given kind is expected to contain, such as a required cover page fact. When one is missing, validation can report a finding. Read the guide
- Extension element
- A concept a registrant creates for itself because the standard taxonomy has nothing that fits. It lives in the registrant’s own extension taxonomy.
- Extension taxonomy
- A registrant’s own taxonomy, built on top of a standard one, that holds the extension elements it needs. It is filed together with the filing.
F
- Fact
- One reported value together with what it means: its concept, its context and, for a number, its unit. A tagged filing is a set of facts. Read the guide
H
- A fact tagged in an Inline XBRL document that a reader does not see in the text, such as a cover page value the form needs but does not print. It sits in a hidden section of the document.
I
- Inline XBRL
- A way of tagging a document so that one file is both the readable filing and its data. The tags sit inside the text of the HTML.
- Inline XBRL Viewer
- A viewer built into EDGAR that shows an Inline XBRL filing, and its tags, in a browser. Nobody needs special software to read one. Read the guide
- Instant
- A single point in time, such as the last day of a fiscal year. Balances like cash are reported at an instant.
- Interactive Data File
- The name the SEC’s rules give to the XBRL data that goes with a filing.
L
- Label
- The words that name a concept for a reader, such as Revenues. A concept can have several labels, for example a standard one and a negating one.
- Large accelerated filer
- A registrant in the largest size category for periodic reports. It has the shortest deadlines, such as 60 days after year end for a Form 10-K. Read the guide
- Linkbase
- A file of relationships and extra information about the concepts of a taxonomy, such as their labels, their order or their calculations.
M
- Member
- One of the parts of a dimension, such as a single segment on a segments axis. A fact names a member to say which part it describes. Read the guide
N
- Negating label
- A label that shows a fact with its sign reversed from the stored value. It is used where the figure as printed has the opposite sign. Read the guide
P
- Period type
- Whether a concept is reported over a span of time, a duration, or at a moment, an instant. The taxonomy fixes it for each concept. Read the guide
- Presentation linkbase
- The part of a taxonomy that arranges concepts into a hierarchy for display, such as the lines of a statement in their order.
R
- Regulation FD
- An SEC rule on selective disclosure: when a company discloses material nonpublic information to certain people, it must make that information public too. It is one reason teams control who sees an unreleased filing. Read the guide
- The readable document of a filing that its XBRL data relates to.
- Rendering
- How a filing looks to a reader once its data is turned into pages. Previewing the rendered filing is a step of its own, apart from validation. Read the guide
S
- Scale
- A power of ten that tells a reader how to display a value, such as thousands or millions. The fact stores the full value, and the scale decides what is printed. Read the guide
- Standard taxonomy
- A taxonomy that the SEC accepts and publishes for filers to use, such as the US GAAP Taxonomy. The set changes from time to time. Read the guide
- Suspension
- The stopping of a filing at EDGAR when it fails validation in a serious way. An XBRL error may cause it, and an XBRL warning does not. Read the guide
T
- Tagging
- Marking a figure or a passage in a filing with a concept from a taxonomy, so that it becomes a fact.
- Taxonomy
- A dictionary of concepts for a kind of reporting, with their definitions, labels and relationships. Filers tag their facts with concepts from it.
- Taxonomy entry point
- The file a filing starts from to load a taxonomy and everything the taxonomy depends on.
- Text block
- A concept whose value is a block of formatted text. It is used to tag a whole note or table as one fact.
- Transformation
- A rule that converts a value as it is written in the document, such as a date in words, into the standard form the data needs. Inline XBRL names the transformation in the tag.
- Typed dimension
- A dimension whose members are not listed in the taxonomy but are values supplied in the filing, such as a number or a name. An explicit dimension lists its members in advance.
U
- Unit
- What a numeric fact is measured in, such as US dollars or shares. A fact’s unit is separate from its scale.
- US GAAP Taxonomy
- The taxonomy that describes the concepts of US generally accepted accounting principles. Registrants that report under those principles mainly use it.
V
- Validation
- Checking a tagged filing against the rules of the specifications, the taxonomies and the filing rules. It reports its findings as XBRL errors or XBRL warnings. Read the guide
X
- XBRL
- A standard way to describe business information, such as financial results, so that computers can read it. The name stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language.
- XBRL error
- A failed validation that may cause a filing to be suspended. The attachments of the instance are normally removed, and whether suspension follows can vary. Read the guide
- XBRL report
- A set of facts together with the contexts and units they use, reported by one entity. It is also called an instance.
- XBRL warning
- A failed validation that does not cause suspension but points to data that may be incomplete, inconsistent or unreliable. Filers should correct warnings before the live filing. Read the guide
See one section, end to end.
We'll take one note from a filing like yours from spreadsheet to reviewed, tagged disclosure in 20 minutes.