Bob Schneider is a Partner in 
Wilson So is the Director of Hitachi Consulting Corporation XBRL Europe: The Renaissance
Written by Conor O’Kelly Posted on October 10, 2007
Conor O’Kelly is the Chairman of XBRL Ireland and represents Ireland on the International Steering Committee. He is currently 1st Vice Chairman of XBRL International. He has ten years background in global IT managed services, global project management, and strategic IT business planning with Hewlett-Packard and Ericsson. Mr. O’Kelly is a Chartered Accountant with an MSc in IT Management and a past member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
Cabin Crew — 10 minutes to landing! announced the pilot of our Aer Lingus Airbus A320. But many of the passengers were out of their seats, gazing down at the rugged beauty of the Swiss Alps, and as we descended there it was — Venice, Italy! The perfectly preserved medieval town that was at the heart of the Renaissance in Europe, a period of great cultural change and achievement that spanned the period from the end of the 14th century to the 17th, marking the transition between medieval and early modern Europe.
I was indulging in a rare weekend of leisure out of the office, rambling around the Rialto. I couldn’t help but ponder. This is Europe in the new millennium. Europa — an economic block of 27 nations, 700 million people, where you can fly from Dublin (founded by Viking invaders in 989 AD) to Venice, the heart of 15th century Renaissance commerce, in two hours on an Airbus, the result of collaboration between four European countries, with production outsourced to China. Europe is an economic block whose population takes pride in calling themselves European, but fiercely defend their individual sense of nationality, cultural identity, heritage, and history.
And therein lies the challenge for XBRL in Europe. At the heart of modern Europe, the European Commission directs and regulates regional economic and fiscal policy. National governments in the 27 member states implement the EC Directives and report to Brussels-based EU regulatory bodies. Each does it differently and according to their own culture and norms of business. Meantime the new EU accession states in Eastern Europe and the Baltics are finding their way in the world and taking their place alongside their bigger neighbours. (Slovenia takes up the EU Presidency in 2008.)
XBRL Europe is also undergoing a renaissance. The early adopter XBRL jurisdictions of Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom have now been joined by France, Belgium, Luxembourg. The first wave of XBRL jurisdictions were driven originally by the development of local GAAP reporting by the national regulators. The more recent jurisdictions have emerged as a result of the EU-wide Basel II (COREP) implementation by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS). Several other nations are in discussions to join XBRL International. Projects at various stages of implementation are now running in all the member states.
Indeed XBRL is a child that is growing up quickly in Europe. Government mandated projects are running in UK and Netherlands, mandated filing is also in place in the Bank of Belgium, and Bolagsverket (Swedish Companies House) launched their filing program in June. XBRL is the bedrock of regulatory reporting within the Bank of Spain. Moreover, an encouraging number of members of the European Commerce Registers Forum (comprising EU companies houses) endorse XBRL as the preferred filing format to comply with EU Directives on Electronic Reporting. With the European Commission watching US SEC developments with increasing interest, the feeling amongst XBRL leaders in Europe is that the time has come to consolidate various efforts in a harmonised and cohesive strategic approach.
The solution for XBRL in Europe is somehow to accommodate fast-moving jurisdictions alongside new emerging members, to balance local interests with regional policy, and to form a cohesive representative body that can respond with the collective interest of all 27 EU member states in mind, notwithstanding the various stages of adoption of XBRL within each of these states. That’s easier said that done! Just ask anybody who worked on the 1957 Treaty of Rome, the 1991 Maastricht Treaty, or the (unimplemented) single European Constitution.
The upside however is significant. The potential for XBRL Europe to transform business reporting within the 10 trillion (USD$14 trillion) economic block is too tempting to shy away from. The success of the CEBS Basel II COREP project across the 27 member states, the move to IFRS, the completion of the US GAAP tagging by XBRL-US, and discussions around a single European data repository all show that a strong sense of mission and purpose around the collaborative good with strong sponsorship can bring about significant economic gain.
Moreover, XBRL leaders in Europe are clearly focused on alignment. Cooperation and propagation of best practices amongst the various jurisdictions is not only accelerating adoption in the emerging jurisdictions but is likely to bring smaller countries into the fold and attract new memberships. It opens up a new level of engagement at a regional level not only for participants, but also allows the flow of thought leadership from central regulators into the member states and ensures consistency between projects administered at a central European level but implemented locally within the EU member states. Therein lies the potential for significant economic benefit and market efficiencies.
XBRL is driving the renaissance in business reporting in Europe. As if you needed any other evidence, there was considerable comment at the recent XBRL International Steering Group meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that the Irish delegate was seen to abandon Guinness in favour of a full bodied French Chateau Nuef du Pape (2006) red wine.
Mon Dieu! What next?