In the 11 years since I began working with the financial data standard that eventually became XBRL (eXtensible business reporting language), I've traveled a road filled with challenges, obstacles, and diversions. But the global XBRL community has stayed the course and persevered.

XBRL is a global, freely available, open data standard format that's used for the electronic transmission of financial and nonfinancial information within organizations and to external users. It's a language that bridges the gap between business systems.

And nowadays, it's everywhere.

XBRL's Expanding Sphere of Influence

In numerous countries, including the United States, China, Japan, India, the United Kingdom, and Germany, XBRL has either been mandated by one or more regulatory or government agencies for various types of external reporting (for example, tax or primary financials) or is currently in use for voluntary programs. Dozens more countries are considering XBRL for various purposes.

Several million companies, both privately held and listed, are already using XBRL to meet regulatory mandates, including tax and financial statement filings. Governments are increasingly integrating XBRL across their agencies to streamline reporting and information-gathering processes for businesses and the public, reducing compliance burdens.

XBRL is being used, or planned for use, with many asset classes, including mutual funds, asset-backed securities, and derivatives. Bonds and annuities may be next.

It's also being used (voluntarily at the moment) or considered in areas such as proxy practices; corporate social responsibility reporting; environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices; and integrated reporting (the reporting of combined financial and nonfinancial information).

Myths and Misperceptions

Throughout XBRL's journey to global usage, myths about the standard have cropped up along the way. Here are 10 misperceptions that may be blocking your company's ability to get the most from this crucial management tool.

1. XBRL is just one more compliance burden imposed on my organization. While it's true that many companies now must comply with XBRL requirements for external reporting, all types of organizations can gain significant efficiencies by using the standard, including:

• Streamlined information gathering, analysis, and reporting (internal and external)
• More accurate, clean, reliable, reusable data
• Reduced information processing costs
• More informed management decision-making
• Improved communication within the organization about performance and fundamentals
• Better-integrated cross-functional teams and improved collaboration (because XBRL breaks down information silos)
• Improved transparency and, as a result, better risk management
• A reduction in the time that managers spend on gathering historical information -- which means that more time is available for value-added tasks such as forecasting, planning, and performance measurement
• Enhanced ability to "tell your story" to analysts and bankers.

2. XBRL is only for publicly listed and/ or large companies.
XBRL provides significant benefits for, and is currently being used by, both listed and privately held companies. Privately held firms far outnumber listed organizations around the world, and governments are focusing on delivering the benefits of XBRL for all enterprises.

Millions of small to medium businesses across Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia must meet XBRL tax filing requirements. The increasing use of XBRL by government agencies for purposes such as business licensing and grants directly impacts smaller companies. Charities and not-for-profit organizations also have XBRL requirements in some countries (for example, the United Kingdom) for taxation purposes.

3. XBRL is only for financial reporting.
While the initial focus was on the use of XBRL for financial reporting -- both internally to management and externally to regulatory agencies, analysts, and investors -- XBRL today is increasingly used for nonfinancial reporting.

XBRL taxonomies (standardized virtual dictionaries containing definitions of the terms that are used to classify information) have already been developed for sustainability reporting, and are under development for use by credit rating agencies. Health records may be next.

The benefits of XBRL extend beyond the financial reporting supply chain into many other key areas, helping users to develop comprehensive measures of performance and value. After all, financials alone don't determine the value of an organization.

4. XBRL is just a standard chart of accounts.
As Liv Watson and Charles Hoffman (considered the parents of XBRL) state in their book XBRL for Dummies, XBRL is the "complete opposite" of a chart of accounts. XBRL is flexible; it allows you to modify the taxonomy or data dictionary to meet the specific needs of your industry, for example. That's one reason why so many organizations have adopted it. Contrast this with a standard chart of accounts, which is fixed and inflexible. XBRL is a language that expresses concepts that are defined by its users. It's not about data standardization.

5. XBRL is too complicated to use or to understand. You buy a car to get you reliably and safely from point A to point B, but that doesn't mean you have to understand exactly how the propulsion, steering, and electrical systems work. The same holds true here. XBRL capability is embedded within software tools and applications; in many cases, you won't even realize it's there.

Innovation among software developers is ongoing, and new tools are constantly arriving in the market to meet new needs. Vendors will become increasingly creative at making the XBRL component of their products hidden or, at minimum, easy to use and understand.

6. XBRL doesn't apply to my company.
Well, you can run, but you can't hide! XBRL is here to stay, for companies of all sizes and types.

As I mentioned above, XBRL's sphere of influence is rapidly expanding. I'll add one more example here: Banking supervisors are increasingly using XBRL to monitor systemic risk and related exposures in the worldwide financial system. Businesses large and small will eventually fall under XBRL's influence to
assist in this effort.

7. XBRL requires me to report more information.
XBRL doesn't require companies to report additional information beyond what they currently report externally. It merely takes what you're already reporting and makes it securely and easily readable and discoverable by computers and software systems.

XBRL for internal reporting and decisionmaking brings efficiency, accuracy, reduced cost, and reusability to your information, but it doesn't change the scope of the data set that you're analyzing and reporting on.

8. XBRL is something that concerns only the finance team.
Your organization's finance department will, of course, benefit from the use of XBRL in its financial reporting systems. The benefits don't stop there, however. Tax, internal audit, executive management, marketing and sales, operations, investor relations, and legal teams also gain value from the efficiencies and silo-busting power of XBRL. They can share information cross-functionally in a quicker, cheaper, more integrated manner.

The power of the concept of a single data set (with appropriate access levels and permissioning) for the entire organization, enabled by XBRL, is one of reasons why integrated reporting is such a hot topic today.

9. XBRL is just a regulatory tool.
Regulatory compliance is just one of XBRL's current and predicted uses -- the "C" part of a fully integrated GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) strategy. XBRL is a powerful risk management tool that brings greater transparency to an organization. It's a governance tool that serves as a sort of early warning system to identify problems before they cause serious damage. It can help you monitor your social, labor, and environmental practices.

What's more, XBRL information can and will be used for performance measurement and business intelligence functions -- for example, tracking balanced scorecards and key performance indicators (KPIs).

10. XBRL is a proprietary piece of software.
It's not. In fact, it's not software at all. XBRL is a freely available, open standard; it's a language that consistently defines business information. Software vendors use the standard as part of their products' architecture and engineering to XBRLenable their tools so that data can be tagged, prepared, reported, analyzed, and shared among users who want the information.

If you want to use XBRL, ask your current software vendors what capabilities they provide, or search for other firms in the market. Many types of tools are available today.

The more you know about any management resource, the better equipped you are to understand what's true -- and not so true -- about it. I encourage you to learn more about XBRL. Check out training opportunities, webinars, and conferences about the standard and related topics such as integrated reporting. And consider taking on the role of champion for XBRL in your company.