TY - CHAP
T1 - The impact of XBRL on financial statement structural comparability
AU - Yang, Steve
AU - Liu, Fang Chun
AU - Zhu, Xiaodi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer International Publishing AG.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The quality of corporate financial reporting has long been an important interest of financial reporting users, including investors, financial analysts, and regulators. Comparability is a key qualitative characteristic of accounting information that facilitates the comparison of financial statements. However, various reporting formats and accounting taxonomy standards result in inconsistent reporting structures that indirectly affect comparability. To improve information comparability, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated the adoption of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), a search-facilitating technology, to reduce the costs of information search and improve the efficiency of information processing. Leveraging on the XBRL adoption enforced by the SEC, this study investigates whether the comparability of financial statement structure has improved in the post-mandate XBRL period. The results show a significant, consistent comparability improvement in the post-XBRL adoption period, providing empirical evidence of the positive impact of XBRL on enhancing financial statement structural comparability.
AB - The quality of corporate financial reporting has long been an important interest of financial reporting users, including investors, financial analysts, and regulators. Comparability is a key qualitative characteristic of accounting information that facilitates the comparison of financial statements. However, various reporting formats and accounting taxonomy standards result in inconsistent reporting structures that indirectly affect comparability. To improve information comparability, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated the adoption of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), a search-facilitating technology, to reduce the costs of information search and improve the efficiency of information processing. Leveraging on the XBRL adoption enforced by the SEC, this study investigates whether the comparability of financial statement structure has improved in the post-mandate XBRL period. The results show a significant, consistent comparability improvement in the post-XBRL adoption period, providing empirical evidence of the positive impact of XBRL on enhancing financial statement structural comparability.
KW - Comparability
KW - Financial reporting quality
KW - Financial statement structure
KW - XBRL
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041832418&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85041832418&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-62636-9_13
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-62636-9_13
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85041832418
T3 - Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation
SP - 193
EP - 206
BT - Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation
ER -