Financial reporting using XBRL : an evaluation of its need and the willingness of business to apply to the system in Malta

Abstract

XBRL, eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is a language for the electronic communication and exchange of business and financial data. It is an open standard, free of licence fees, and is being developed by a non-profit making international consortium. XBRL provides benefits at all the stages of the information supply chain starting from the preparation of the reports, to the communication between different entities and, finally, to the analysis of data. In a world where technology plays an important part of everybody's life, it is important that companies embrace such tools. The benefits that firms derive from the adoption of XBRL include the additional comparability and consistency, enhancements of information usage and also the ability and technical means for near continuous financial reporting through the Web. Since adoption of XBRL in Malta is non-existent, the objective of this study is to identify whether the implementation of XBRL will be helpful to Maltese small and medium enterprises, and if it is feasible to employ it. By applying an XBRL system to a case study, a number of reports were built to come to the conclusion. The research also determines whether Maltese companies are satisfied with their current system for business reporting and identifies any significant driving forces which will help in introducing XBRL in Malta.