The workshop was presented by CA Vinod Kashyap, who is a pioneer and an XBRL Guru

In order to foster the understanding of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), MAIA Intelligence, a leading provider of Business Intelligence (BI) & XBRL Software Product Solution organized a one day XBRL workshop on July 16, 2011. The main goal was to transfer knowledge and unique experience of Financial Reporting through XBRL.

100+ finance professionals from corporates learnt the meaning and nature of XBRL; the technical terms commonly associated with XBRL, XBRL Taxonomies & XBRL Instances, understanding MCA mandate in India, how to use postXBRL tool, how to create instance documents and more.

In this intense workshop, participants learnt about the basics of XBRL; how to create XBRL-based financial statements; how to prepare an organization’s financial system for XBRL-based financial reporting; risk and control issues in using XBRL; and benefits and costs of XBRL. The workshop emphasized both accounting and technology issues. Participants benefited from the knowledge acquired to implement XBRL in their accounting and financial reporting systems. No prior knowledge of XBRL or other similar technologies was needed to attend this workshop.

The concepts underpinning XBRL were grasped quickly as the business case for XBRL. XBRL is, however, at the intersection of accounting and financial reporting, Internet technologies (XML) and metadata and knowledge representation. This workshop helped develop the level of understanding and gave equal emphasis to the accounting and technology foundations and to the practical applications of these foundations. Particular attention was given to working with the Indian taxonomy and preparing reports with that taxonomy.

XBRL is the rapidly maturing language for computerized financial and business operations reporting and has entered a center stage. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has in phase one mandated financial reporting in XBRL for certain class of companies. There is parallel development happening with a similar track for reporting by mutual funds mandated by SEBI. This coupled with the widespread adoption of XBRL in India and around the world presage a significantly more widespread role for XBRL in the coming years. XBRL is likely to make significant changes in the way accountants and auditors do their work.

XBRL leverages the standardized XML framework to revolutionize financial reporting by companies. XBRL isn’t just about financial reporting; it is about broader business reporting, standardizing the flow of data from initial transaction through to end reporting, be it financial, tax, statutory, statistical or management. Therefore, companies of all sizes can benefit from XBRL.

This workshop was meant for finance professionals, investors, investment analysts and academics with the profiles like Accountants, Auditors, Financial Controllers (Chartered Accountants), Company Secretary, Cost Accountants, Investors & Investment Analysts (CFAs, MBAs and Business Analysts), Management Representatives (CFOs, CTOs, CIOs, Project Managers), CEO, MD, Directors in Accounting, Finance and IT of any corporate.

Sanjay Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, MAIA Intelligence, said,‘XBRL workshop was a perfect platform for knowledge transfer, providing valuable support and guidance to finance professionals in switching over to this new technology. Such workshops help build several success stories across several industries indicating XBRL’s potential to impact financial and business processes across many industries and company types.’

Vinod Kashyap, XBRL Guru said, ‘This workshop provided information about the technicalities, preparation of XBRL reports, analysis of XBRL documents and communication of business information.  I hope the participants who are involved in supply or use of financial data would have surely been benefited from this workshop.’