The IFRS Foundation is establishing a task force to examine detailed XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) tagging in IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) financial statements, and is looking to work directly with preparers from listed panies from different industries and regions.

The Foundation has initiated the task force as a follow-up to the pilot initiative that it recently ncluded with US-listed foreign panies to produce US-SEC (United States Securities and Exchange mission)-pliant IFRS financial reports in XBRL format.

Objectives

The aim of the task force is for listed panies to produce fully-tagged financial statements using the IFRS Taxonomy.  Detailed tagging up to level-4 will be applied to participants’ financial statements, whereby all primary financial statement line items and notes disclosures will be tagged using the IFRS Taxonomy 2011 (which is due to be published at the end of March 2011). 

The task force will be a means for the Foundation to engage with stakeholders and obtain feedback on the usability of the IFRS Taxonomy for filers and for users of filed XBRL ntent in the ntext of detailed note tagging. 

Participants

The IFRS Foundation is seeking participation from preparers of financial statements for listed panies who report in IFRS.  Participation from panies operating in all industries and geographical regions is wele, and it would be particularly useful to have participation by foreign private issuers listed in the United States because of the expected requirement for foreign private issuers reporting in IFRS to submit IFRS XBRL filings from June 2011.

Time line

panies interested in participating in the task force should express their interest by 10 April 2011 (ntact details below).  Task force participants will be chosen and notified by 15 April 2011.  The first meeting of task force participants will take place on 18 April 2011 by telenference. 

It is expected that participating panies will have sufficient knowledge to be able to produce detailed XBRL filings by the end of September 2011, which is when the initiative will be pleted.

Process

Participating panies will:

Examine major sections within financial statements - such as operating segments, share-based payments, property, plant and equipment, etc - and the rresponding parts of the IFRS Taxonomy that relate to disclosures within those sections, with support and feedback from the IFRS Foundation XBRL Team.

Apply IFRS Taxonomy tags to financial statement note disclosures either in Microsoft Excel or Word or directly in XBRL, again with support and feedback from the IFRS Foundation XBRL Team.

Generate an XBRL file using their preferred software.

Resource requirements

Participants will be expected to examine each of their financial statement note disclosures in detail, to undertake the tagging process and to share the results of this work with other participants via fortnightly one-hour nference calls and two one-day meetings which will take place in London.

Benefits for participating panies

Although participating panies will retain ultimate responsibility for preparing the XBRL filings, they will be working directly with the authors of the IFRS Taxonomy who will provide assistance throughout the XBRL tagging and document creation process on:

tagging and disclosure choices;

pliance with filing rules and regulatory requirements; and

filing review and rendering.

Participating panies will also be able to share and learn from the filings and from the experiences of other participants.

What software should be used?

The IFRS Taxonomy 2011 has been developed and tested using a number of XBRL tools.  However the IFRS Foundation does not remend or endorse particular products.  The IFRS Foundation XBRL Team is familiar with most XBRL products that are currently available on the market and is therefore happy to work with the software tools chosen by participating panies.

Will the filings be made public?

All information and filings will remain nfidential, and will not be shared without the nsent of participating panies. However the IFRS Foundation enurages participating panies to publish their filings.

ntact details

panies interested in participating in the task force are invited to express their interest:in writing to Olivier Servais, Director of XBRL Activities, IFRS Foundation, 30 Cannon Street, London EC4M 6XH, United Kingdom; or by email to oservais@.

The IFRS Foundation will aept applications until 10 April 2011.