'2023 XBRL International Conference' Held... "Expectations to Alleviate Early Implementation Errors"

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.

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). Financial statement notes will be gradually introduced starting from 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 form 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 sector-specific financial associations to address companies' difficulties."

Kim Young-sik, Chairman of the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants, stated, "The importance of XBRL, which has proven its international usefulness to ensure 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."

At the event, Lee Seok, Director of the Corporate Disclosure Bureau at the FSS, gave a presentation on 'Progress and Success Strategies for Advancing Korea's Financial Disclosure and English DART Improvement Plans for Capital Market Globalization.' Professor Yoon Jae-won of Hongik University’s Business School explained 'Measures to Establish a Stable XBRL Financial Disclosure System in Korea.'

John Turner, CEO of the International XBRL Association, and Yoshiaki Wada, Vice Chairman, introduced advanced XBRL adoption cases and future plans in the United States, Japan, and other countries.

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