IFRS, U.S. GAAP, and XBRL Financial Statements: An Introduction and Case Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Given (a) the mandate to fully comply with “Interactive Data to Improve Financial Reporting,” (Rule 33-2009; SEC 2009b) which requires all SEC registered companies to include financial statements in XBRL format as exhibits with their quarterly or annual reports on a phased-in schedule, and (b) initiations to converge U.S. GAAP and IFRS, it is crucial for students to understand the methodological differences between XBRL financial reporting for these two standards. Therefore, the goal of this case is to expose students to the IFRS and U.S. GAAP XBRL taxonomies. We use the case of a hypothetical company to first illustrate some of the differences between IFRS and U.S. GAAP reporting at the financial statement level, then map its Income Statement line items into respective XBRL taxonomies, and finally create an XBRL instance document. The case provides two exercises to explain the steps in creating an XBRL instance document for different taxonomies, i.e., accessing and then mapping line items into t...