XBRL and the European
Accountancy Profession:
Turning the Potential into Realities
Paris, 24 June 2009
Hans van Damme, FEE President
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Agenda
 About FEE
 XBRL and the accountancy profession
 The financial reporting chain
 A few lessons learned by the
accountancy profession
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About FEE
 43 professional institutes of accountants
 32 European countries, including all 27 EU
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Representing the profession
 Combined membership of more than
500.000 professional accountants
In public practice, business,
government, and education
All contributing to a more efficient,
transparent, and sustainable European
economy
Recognising the public interest
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Advancing members’ activities
Financial
Reporting
Accounting
Insurance
Banks
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XBR
L
Task
Forc
e
Auditing
Sustainability
Ethics
Qualification
and Market
Access
Company Law
Corporate
Governance
Public Sector
SMEs-SMPs
Taxation
And
more…
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XBRL and the profession
Making
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the link
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The paradox
 Accountants and XBRL
Founding/funding/active members of all XBRL
jurisdictions in Europe
However not yet mainstream and still
significant awareness deficit
 XBRL and Accountants
Enhancing reporting, supported by
accountants
However not always clear on financial
reporting chain and different functions of
‘accountants’
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What drives accountants
 Potential key benefits in the public
interest:
More transparency, comparability and
efficiency
Open source: flexibility and potential
drilling-down and tailoring
Less burden and costs?
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What slows accountants
 Misunderstanding of accountants’ roles
 Lack of information / jargon
 Assurance in the public interest
 Change and need to manage it
 Expectation gap and liability
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The financial reporting chain
Source documents
Journalising
General ledger posting
Trial balance preparation
Audit
Statutory
Audit
Report
Adjusted trial balance
Other reports:
-Directors’ report
-Corporate governance
-----Sustainability
-CSR
Financial reports preparation
Statutory
Reporting
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Consolidation
Reporting
Tax
Reporting
Supervisory
reporting
Reporting to Other
Stakeholders
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XBRL and possible audit steps
General
Ledger
Notes
Information
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Taxonomy
Taxonomy
Extensions
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Instance Document
Financial
Statements (F/S)
PAPER
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2
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Third Parties
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ü?
ü?
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3
Stylesheet
A
Stylesheet
B
Stylesheet
C, D, E
XBRL
F/S
Within company
XBRL
F/S
External filing
Financial and
non-financial
information
(Brokers,
(Brokers,
Analysts,
Analysts,
etc.)
etc.)
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A few lessons learned by the
profession
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It’s about standards-setting
 Accountants have learned the need for:
Robust due process
• Comprehensive multi-stakeholders
consultation
• open and transparent workflows
Public interest focus
Independence and accountability
Simple communication
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It’s about managing expectations
 XBRL is great! but it’s no silver bullet
Will not solve all business reporting
issues
Will not make complexity simple
Will not make poor legislation better,
consistent and coherent
Will significantly change assurance on
financial reporting
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It’s about working together
 There are key preconditions to realising the
potential with
A role for the EC and regulators: promoting well
structured, consistent and harmonised
legislation – and an open standard
A role for business: committing to transparency
and openness
A role for XBRL and accountants: engaging
and proactively developing solutions
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www.fee.be
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