Файл XBRL

XBRL - eXtensible Business Reporting Language - is a text file format based on XML, created as a markup language for sharing and exchanging business data. .xbrl files store financial information or reports in a machine-readable, structured form that software can validate, compare and analyse automatically. XBRL is a universal and portable standard not tied to any software platform, and is an open standard distributed under a free licence by XBRL International.

Data in .xbrl files is organised using a well-defined structure. Each file starts with a root <xbrl> element (or <xbrli:xbrl> with the namespace declared) that references one or more taxonomy schemas (.xsd files) defining the meaning of every tag. The content following the root element constitutes so-called Business Facts, which can be divided into the following groups:

• items - elements holding a single value,
• tuples - elements with multiple values; can be nested.

Every fact is accompanied by a context element that identifies the reporting entity, the time period covered and the unit of measurement, making each data point self-describing. Files that combine .xbrl tags embedded inside a human-readable XHTML document are called Inline XBRL (.ixbrl), allowing the same filing to be viewed in a web browser and processed by software simultaneously.

XBRL 1.0 was introduced in 2000; XBRL 2.1, the stable and current specification, was recommended by XBRL International in 2003 and has remained the core standard since. Documents in the XBRL standard are required by financial regulators in the United States (SEC EDGAR) and the U.K.; in Poland, since 2020 companies listed on the stock exchange are required to provide reports adhering to the ESEF standard using .xbrl files. Regulatory packages are often distributed as ZIP archives bundling the instance document together with the required taxonomy schemas and linkbases. There are dedicated tools and plug-ins for popular applications that allow creating and validating reports in XBRL format.