Energy firms will soon start reporting quarterly and annual financial and operational information in XBRL format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public corporations which have been submitting reviews with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, however the taxonomy for tagging FERC types shall be completely different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS

In many respects, the burden should be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will rely on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the basic constructing blocks of XBRL implementation in enterprise reporting) and the Arelle open-source XBRL validation engine. And a “fact” in both reports is represented by a worth (numeric or non-numeric), parts, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we element below, you’ll notice quite a few variations with FERC’s XBRL necessities.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION

Standard schedules enable for extremely prescriptive tag assignments. That means no more tagging from scratch. For instance, the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting provides users with pre-tagged types. These standardized pre-tagged forms not solely cut back preparation efforts considerably, in addition they reduce tagging inconsistencies—you can obtain larger information high quality with much less effort.
Also, you are not required to tag every quantity. Notes to monetary statements require block tags only. For example, 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 customers of the Workiva solution for SEC reporting and the Workiva resolution for FERC reporting: You will be in a position to link data in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and efficiency.
If no applicable XBRL concept is on the market, the data is not to be tagged. However, if an applicable concept exists, FERC requires the information to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required information could additionally be reported within 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 เพรสเชอร์เกจ to help reporting of company-specific information, FERC makes use of the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC makes use of a unique technical specification, you will note the Workiva FERC reporting answer offers the same feel and appear as axis/member utility in the Workiva resolution for SEC reporting.
NO OUTLINE MANAGEMENT OR CUSTOM DATES

For FERC reporting, no custom labels or label roles are needed. Labels are auto-assigned by the official FERC renderer based on kind places. Also, there are not any calculation to outline. In fact, custom calculations usually are not permitted. Validation guidelines will deal with consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns specific hypercube to each schedule, there is no define construction to construct. For users of Workiva for FERC reporting, this is automatically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, truth ordering just isn’t managed by the define and isn’t required. FERC makes use of a numeric element “OrderNumber” to control sequencing of company-specific data. Users of the Workiva answer for FERC reporting can simply assign row numbers in the kind schedules as “OrderNumber” within the Workiva platform. Lastly, there aren’t any customized dates as you’re limited to a small record of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY

Going forward, there is no digital form to submit. Machine-readable knowledge is the vital thing focus. Although not in iXBRL format, FERC’s official form renderer will present standardized viewing for the submitted XBRL data.
SUPPORTS REQUEST FOR CONFIDENTIAL DATA

Since most submitting knowledge to the SEC is public document, the SEC doesn’t provide this, but FERC does. Whether FERC will really approve a request for confidential data is another question! If you may have an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, ensure your vendor additionally supports FERC compliance, since the FERC taxonomy will not be the identical as the SEC reporting taxonomy.
PREPARE FOR YOUR NEEDS

Whether you outsource XBRL tagging, select an XBRL software program vendor, or make investments the money and time to construct and preserve an in-house answer for FERC compliance, understanding the similarities and variations between XBRL filings for FERC and for the SEC might be crucial when evaluating your options.
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 related and reporting compliance platform that permits using linked information and automation of reporting throughout finance, accounting, risk, and compliance. For extra info, visit www.workiva.com

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