iXBRL Tagging Outsourcing

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is iXBRL and why is it becoming the standard for financial reporting?

iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) combines human-readable HTML with machine-readable XBRL tags. It's becoming the global standard because it enables financial data to be read by both humans and computers simultaneously, eliminating the need for separate documents. Regulatory bodies like HMRC, SEC, and ESMA have adopted iXBRL because it improves data accuracy, comparability, and analysis capabilities while reducing processing time.

How does outsourcing iXBRL tagging differ from using automated software tools?

While automated software can handle basic tagging, it often struggles with complex financial narratives and judgment-based classifications. Outsourcing provides human expertise for interpreting financial information within its proper context, applying appropriate tags from extensive taxonomies, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Our specialists bring financial domain knowledge to tag disclosures correctly, handle custom extensions when needed, and maintain consistency across reports—capabilities that automated tools alone cannot match.

What is your typical onboarding process and timeline for new clients?

Our onboarding typically takes 1-2 weeks and includes initial consultation to understand your specific reporting requirements, evaluation of your financial reports and data structure, establishing secure data transfer protocols, setting up communication channels and project management tools, assigning specialised team members based on your industry and reporting needs, conducting a pilot tagging of one report to align expectations, and finalising the workflow, delivery schedule, and quality control procedures.

How do you handle last-minute changes to financial reports before filing deadlines?

We maintain dedicated rapid response teams during peak filing seasons. Our process includes expedited validation and tagging of changes through our priority workflow system, real-time collaboration tools that allow simultaneous work on documents, extended working hours during critical filing periods, built-in buffer time in project schedules to accommodate revisions, and automated comparison tools to identify only the changed portions needing attention.

How is pricing structured for iXBRL tagging services?

Our pricing model is transparent and flexible, based on document complexity (number of pages, tables, and disclosures), reporting frequency (quarterly, semi-annual, annual), turnaround time requirements, volume of reports and consistency between them, level of tagging detail required (block tagging vs. detailed tagging), and industry-specific complexity factors. We offer both per-document pricing and subscription models for ongoing relationships, with volume discounts available for multiple entities or reports.