XBRL: Towards an Unified Taxonomy

Abstract

This study identifies upcoming trends for XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language). While most of the articles focus on technological aspects such as ontology and software engineering this article relates to accounting-related aspects of the taxonomy. The taxonomy can be regarded as a main cornerstone of each XBRL financial reporting submission. As taxonomy do not develop standards, laws and regulations newly, they only derive standardized reporting elements the current landscape of taxonomy is still characterised by multiple heterogeneous taxonomies. Based on the harmonization requirements and requests from regulators for better comparison of financial reports among peers, it can be concluded that taxonomies will adapt and merge to each other. In an endgame scenario it is probable that only one taxonomy remains and prevails.