The short answer
XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a standard for tagging financial-statement figures so software can read them reliably. Inline XBRL (iXBRL) embeds those tags inside a human-readable document, so the same file serves people and machines.
At a glance
- Term
- XBRL and iXBRL
- Also known as
- XBRL · Inline XBRL · iXBRL accounts
- Category
- Registers & filings
- Where it matters
- Company and founder due diligence
XBRL and iXBRL in practice
The SEC requires XBRL tagging of financial statements in periodic reports and publishes the tagged figures as “company facts”. UK Companies House accepts accounts in iXBRL, and the EU’s ESEF format uses iXBRL for listed issuers’ annual financial reports.
Why XBRL and iXBRL matter
- Figures come straight from the filing, not from a re-keyed database.
- The same concept (revenue, net income) can be compared across companies.
XBRL and iXBRL in MarketPrior
MarketPrior reads reported figures from SEC XBRL company facts, ESEF annual financial reports and national registries such as Companies House iXBRL accounts and Norway’s annual-accounts register, and cites each figure to its filing.