Standing for trust and integrity 19 th XBRL International Conference Paris, June Status FEE XBRL Task Force, what is happening around Europe Philip Johnson FEE Deputy President Chairman FEE Auditing Working Party and FEE XBRL Task Force

2 Standing for trust and integrity Federating Member Bodies  43 professional institutes of accountants  32 European countries, including all 27 EU  > professional accountants

3 Standing for trust and integrity Agenda  Why should auditors in Europe be interested in XBRL?  Will auditors be asked to provide additional levels of assurance on XBRL information?  What has FEE done to consider the matter?  Where are IASB in the debate?  What is IAASB doing?  What are some of the other issues for auditors surrounding XBRL?

4 Standing for trust and integrity XBRL around Europe (1)  Current examples on the use of XBRL around Europe  Belgium: over 90% of the companies use XBRL for financial statement filing which is pre-formated;  France: XBRL filing of annual statutory financial statements is accepted although little progress has been made with public companies;  Italy: the XBRL implementation has started; around 100,000 financial statements are expected to be filed under the new format;

5 Standing for trust and integrity XBRL around Europe (2)  Netherlands: XBRL information prepared in agreement with the tax authorities will be accepted for tax purposes; banks have developed an extension of the Dutch taxonomy and are ready to start using it;  Spain: the use of XBRL has been approved by the authorities to file accounts;  Sweden: since 2006 electronic filing has been permitted by the legislator. For the year 2008, 60 fully electronic XBRL tagged annual reports have been submitted via the official internet service provided;  UK: there is a limited use of XBRL. Parallel projects are taking place, for audit exempt companies, abbreviated accounts can be filed in XBRL.

6 Standing for trust and integrity FEE and XBRL  FEE has an XBRL Task Force combining financial reporting and auditing  First meeting in October 2008 brainstormed on possible FEE actions and considered types of assurance which may be requested;  Second meeting in March 2009 considered developing a project proposal;  A Policy Statement to educate the accountancy profession and stakeholders is being drafted.

7 Standing for trust and integrity Assurance from auditors  What type of assurance should be given:  Reasonable assurance  Limited assurance  Agreed upon procedures  To whom:  Management  Shareholders  Third Parties  And when?

8 Standing for trust and integrity XBRL Diagram 1)Tagging by bar code 2)Database integrity by IT general controls 3)Style sheets 4)Taxonomy 5)Taxonomy extensions 6)Instance documents

9 Standing for trust and integrity FEE Policy Statement on XBRL (1)  FEE Policy Statement on XBRL main aim is to increase awareness in and outside the profession  What is XBRL?  What are XBRL “Taxonomies”?  What are “Extensions” of a Taxonomy and why are they used?  What is “tagging”?  What is an “Instance Document”?  What is a “Style sheet”?

10 Standing for trust and integrity FEE Policy Statement on XBRL (2)  The Policy Statement also deals with:  Use of XBRL  How does XBRL change the preparation of financial statements  Implications of XBRL for statutory auditors  IAASB project on XBRL  XBRL Advantages and Disadvantages  Implications of XBRL for third parties  Practical implications

11 Standing for trust and integrity IFRS XBRL Taxonomy  The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is responsible for the implementation of XBRL developments adapted to their latest accounting standards.  On 2 April 2009, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) published the final IFRS XBRL Taxonomy  The IFRS XBRL Taxonomy 2009 is a translation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as of 1 January 2009 into XBRL.  FEE does not believe auditors should provide assurance on the IFRS XBRL Taxonomy.

12 Standing for trust and integrity IAASB XBRL Project  The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) approved a project that includes: 1. Consultation to obtain views about the IAASB’s plans to develop a pronouncement to address the performance and reporting expectations of the auditor in connection with audited financial statements that are accompanied by XBRL data (Phase 1 by March 2010); and 2. Subject to no indication to the contrary in the public interest arising from Phase 1, the development of a pronouncement on the responsibilities of the auditor in an audit of financial statements when audited financial statements are accompanied by XBRL data (Phase 2 by December 2011).  No new (non-audit) assurance or related services standard would be developed.

13 Standing for trust and integrity Other Issues on XBRL for the Profession  General lack of awareness, understanding and knowledge;  Unease about change and the « unknown »  On which steps is audit or assurance needed?  Change in audit approach and/or opinion?  Issues with electronic signature  IAASB pronouncement might come too late

14 Standing for trust and integrity Next Steps for FEE  Continuous contribution to IAASB project  Consideration of assurance requirements beyond financial statement audits  Educating the profession and third parties

15 Standing for trust and integrity Questions

16 Standing for trust and integrity Standing for trust and integrity Visit