"'2023 XBRL International Conference' Held... Expectation to Alleviate Initial Implementation Errors (Comprehensive)"

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 1st that it jointly held the '2023 XBRL International Conference' with the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Korea XBRL Headquarters.

Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun delivers the opening address at the 2023 XBRL International Conference held at 63 Square in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 1st. [Image source=Yonhap News]

At the event held in the afternoon at the 63 Building in Seoul, key figures from the International XBRL Association participated and shared advanced adoption cases from countries such as the United States and Japan. Domestic and international experts also explored ways to establish a stable XBRL financial disclosure system and create an XBRL data ecosystem.

XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language, an international standard computer language for financial reporting created to facilitate the generation, reporting, and analysis of corporate financial information. The FSS announced the ‘Stepwise Advancement Plan for XBRL Financial Disclosure’ last March and is actively expanding XBRL financial disclosures.

The main body of financial statements will be expanded from the third quarter report of this year to include listed financial companies and unlisted companies subject to business report submission applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Notes to the financial statements will be gradually introduced starting this year’s business reports for large-scale non-financial listed companies with assets exceeding 2 trillion won.

In his opening remarks, FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun emphasized, "In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, called the data revolution, the importance of financial data to understand and analyze the status of companies, which are the foundation of the economy, is increasing," adding, "In the data economy era, XBRL is an opportunity for domestic companies to be properly valued in the global market and a source for information users to find new investment opportunities."

He continued, "Recently, major advanced countries such as the United States, Japan, and Europe are applying XBRL not only to the main body of financial statements but also to notes, and discussions are underway to expand the scope to non-financial information such as ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and proxy voting." He added, "The FSS will provide an XBRL authoring tool to help companies subject to mandatory application adapt easily to the new system, and will establish cooperative relationships with the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Korea Listed Companies Association, the KOSDAQ Association, and financial associations by industry to address companies’ difficulties."

Kim Young-sik, president of the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants, stated, "The importance of XBRL, which has been internationally proven useful to secure the soundness and transparency of our financial market, is emerging," and promised, "We will closely cooperate with the FSS to stabilize the XBRL disclosure system and expand education and training for the accounting industry and companies."

Lee Seok, director of the Corporate Disclosure Bureau at the FSS, who presented on the topic of 'Progress and Success Strategies for Advancing Korea’s Financial Disclosure,' explained, "Financial disclosure advancement can be understood as structuring data from the input stage to increase the value of information utilization," adding, "Using XBRL makes disclosure information easier for computers to process, enabling immediate database creation."

He further said, "Companies can be properly valued in the global market, and investors can seize new market opportunities through rapid and accurate analysis," and noted, "Especially foreign investors can check both Korean financial statements and disclosures as well as English financial statements, significantly improving accessibility to our companies."

Professor Yoon Jae-won of Hongik University’s Business School presented on 'Research on Measures for the Stable Establishment of XBRL in Korea.' He pointed out, "The current laws and regulations on electronic disclosure of financial statements lack clear grounds for XBRL disclosure," and said, "To establish the system, it is necessary to clearly establish legal grounds for XBRL disclosure in laws, specifying the purpose, target, management entity, operation method, and corporate responsibilities of disclosure."

He added, "It is essential to actively gather opinions from information users, information producers, information intermediaries, accounting firms, consulting firms, associations, and academia under the supervision of regulatory authorities," and emphasized, "Detailed guidelines should be provided so that companies can easily and accurately comply with XBRL disclosure."

On the day, John Turner, president of the International XBRL Association, and Yoshiaki Wada, vice chairman, introduced advanced XBRL adoption cases and future plans from the United States, Japan, and other countries. Turner stressed, "Korea can and should be at the forefront of electronic disclosure," adding, "Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly developing, and climate-related disclosures will completely change investor behavior decisions in the future."

An FSS official said, "We expect that by providing a venue to understand the necessary XBRL financial disclosure system to secure data, a core resource of the digital economy, and discussing advanced overseas cases and stable system establishment plans with domestic and international experts ahead of the full implementation in the third quarter of this year, initial implementation errors can be mitigated," adding, "This will provide a valuable opportunity to share the FSS’s XBRL financial disclosure advancement and English DART improvement plans with the world."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.