For Energy Companies, Tagging Regulations Require a New Approach

Energy firms will quickly start reporting quarterly and annual financial and operational data in XBRL format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public companies which have been submitting stories with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years, but the taxonomy for tagging FERC forms might be different.
TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS

In many respects, the burden must be lighter for FERC filers than SEC filers. Both will depend on the XBRL 2.1 Specification (which defines the essential constructing blocks of XBRL implementation in business reporting) and the Arelle open-source XBRL validation engine. And a “fact” in each reports is represented by a value (numeric or non-numeric), components, date, unit, and accuracy.
But, as we element below, you’ll notice fairly a few differences with FERC’s XBRL requirements.
SIMPLIFIED ELEMENT SELECTION

Standard schedules permit for highly prescriptive tag assignments. That means no extra tagging from scratch. For instance, the Workiva answer for FERC reporting provides customers with pre-tagged varieties. These standardized pre-tagged forms not only reduce preparation efforts considerably, they also minimize tagging inconsistencies—you can achieve larger information high quality with less effort.
Also, you aren’t required to tag each quantity. Notes to financial statements require block tags only. For ไดอะแฟรม ซีล , if disclosure notes are pasted into FERC Form 1 from the 10-K you file with the SEC, those can be tagged with a single textual content block for FERC. A bonus for users of the Workiva answer for SEC reporting and the Workiva solution for FERC reporting: You will have the ability to hyperlink information in your 10-K to your pre-tagged Form 1 for consistency and efficiency.
If no relevant XBRL idea is out there, the knowledge is to not be tagged. However, if an relevant idea exists, FERC requires the data to be tagged (both numeric and nonnumeric). Note that some required information may be reported inside footnotes for schedules.
Additionally, no extensions are allowed. Besides ideas, axes and members are also for use as supplied. So, how do you report company-specific info, similar to officer names? In order to support reporting of company-specific information, FERC makes use of the typed dimension.
The bonus for Workiva users? Although FERC makes use of a special technical specification, you will note the Workiva FERC reporting solution offers the identical look and feel as axis/member application within the Workiva solution for SEC reporting.
NO OUTLINE MANAGEMENT OR CUSTOM DATES

For FERC reporting, no custom labels or label roles are wanted. Labels are auto-assigned by the official FERC renderer primarily based on kind locations. Also, there aren’t any calculation to outline. In truth, customized calculations usually are not permitted. Validation guidelines will deal with consistency checks.
Since FERC taxonomy assigns particular hypercube to every schedule, there is no define construction to build. For users of Workiva for FERC reporting, that is automatically managed by the Workiva platform.
Plus, fact ordering is not managed by the define and is not required. digital pressure gauge makes use of a numeric element “OrderNumber” to regulate sequencing of company-specific info. Users of the Workiva solution for FERC reporting can easily assign row numbers within the kind schedules as “OrderNumber” in the Workiva platform. Lastly, there are no custom dates as you’re restricted to a small list of allowable values.
SUBMISSION OF DATA AS INSTANCE DOCUMENT ONLY

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

Since most filing knowledge to the SEC is public record, the SEC doesn’t offer this, but FERC does. Whether FERC will really approve a request for confidential information is one other question! If you might have an XBRL vendor for SEC reporting, make sure your vendor also 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 vendor, or invest 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 data initiatives at Workiva. Workiva, Inc. is a worldwide software-as-a-service firm. digital pressure gauge provides a cloud-based connected and reporting compliance platform that enables the usage of linked data and automation of reporting across finance, accounting, risk, and compliance. For more data, go to www.workiva.com

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