For Energy Companies, Tagging Regulations Require a New Approach

Energy corporations will soon begin reporting quarterly and annual monetary and operational information in XBRL format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public companies that have been submitting reviews with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, but the taxonomy for tagging FERC forms will be different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS
In many respects, the burden must be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will rely on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the fundamental constructing blocks of XBRL implementation in business reporting) and the Arelle open-source XBRL validation engine. And a “fact” in each reviews is represented by a value (numeric or non-numeric), elements, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we element below, you’ll notice quite a few differences with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION
Standard schedules permit for extremely prescriptive tag assignments. That means no more tagging from scratch. For instance, the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting supplies users with pre-tagged forms. These standardized pre-tagged varieties not only scale back preparation efforts considerably, in addition they minimize tagging inconsistencies—you can achieve higher information quality with less effort.
Also, you aren’t required to tag each number. Notes to financial statements require block tags solely. For instance, if disclosure notes are pasted into FERC Form 1 from the 10-K you file with the SEC, those would be tagged with a single text block for FERC. A bonus for users of the Workiva answer for SEC reporting and the Workiva solution for FERC reporting: You will be capable of hyperlink information in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and efficiency.
If no relevant XBRL concept is out there, the information is not to be tagged. However, if an relevant concept exists, FERC requires the data to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required data could additionally be reported inside footnotes for schedules.
Additionally, no extensions are allowed. Besides ideas, axes and members are also for use as provided. So, how do you report company-specific information, corresponding to officer names? In order to assist reporting of company-specific data, FERC uses the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC uses a unique technical specification, you will see the Workiva FERC reporting solution offers the identical appear and feel as axis/member application in the Workiva answer for SEC reporting.
NO OUTLINE MANAGEMENT OR CUSTOM DATES
For FERC reporting, no customized labels or label roles are needed. Labels are auto-assigned by the official FERC renderer primarily based on form locations. Also, there aren’t any calculation to define. In reality, customized calculations are not permitted. Validation rules will handle consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns specific hypercube to each schedule, there is not any define construction to construct. For customers of Workiva for FERC reporting, that is automatically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, reality ordering isn’t controlled by the outline and isn’t required. FERC makes use of a numeric factor “OrderNumber” to regulate sequencing of company-specific info. Users of the Workiva answer for FERC reporting can simply assign row numbers within the type schedules as “OrderNumber” in the Workiva platform. Lastly, there aren’t any customized dates as you’re restricted to a small record of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY
Going ahead, there is no digital kind to submit. Machine-readable data is the key focus. Although not in เพรสเชอร์เกจวัดแรงดันน้ำ , FERC’s official kind renderer will present standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL knowledge.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA
Since most submitting knowledge to the SEC is public record, the SEC doesn’t offer this, however FERC does. Whether FERC will truly approve a request for confidential knowledge is another question! If you have an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, make sure your vendor additionally supports FERC compliance, for the reason that FERC taxonomy won’t be the identical as the SEC reporting taxonomy.
PREPARE FOR YOUR NEEDS
Whether you outsource XBRL tagging, choose an XBRL software program vendor, or make investments the money and time to build and keep an in-house answer for FERC compliance, understanding the similarities and differences between XBRL filings for FERC and for the SEC shall be crucial when evaluating your choices.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Percy Hung is director of structured information initiatives and Peter Larison is supervisor of structured information initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a worldwide software-as-a-service company. It provides a cloud-based connected and reporting compliance platform that permits the use of linked knowledge and automation of reporting throughout finance, accounting, danger, and compliance. For more info, visit www.workiva.com
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