Since the introduction of HMRC’s iXBRL mandate in April 2011, the subject of minimum tagging has been the subject of considerable debate.
Back in early 2013 at the end of the so-called HMRC ‘soft landing’ period it was widely reported that HMRC’s published minimum tagging list, introduced alongside the April 2011 iXBRL mandate, would be abandoned in favour of full tagging of the accounts documents that accompany the CT600 form and computations. Many breathed a huge sigh of relief when that proved not to be the case.
Under UK GAAP and minimum tagging it was possible to tag using only a small subset of the full taxonomy, which, if done correctly, would allow the document to be accepted at the Government Gateway.
2015: FRS 101/102 in, minimum tagging out
Now, at the start of 2015, the demise of minimum tagging is finally happening and filers and their professional advisers need to have software in place to cope efficiently with the new comprehensive tagging demands.
UK GAAP is about to be superseded by the new FRS 101 and 102 taxonomies, which will not include a provision for minimum tagging. This is clarified in a recent document* issued by HMRC:
“XBRL has now been in place for a number of years and with the arrival of easier to use taxonomies, further development of software packages, and new consumers of XBRL, limited tagging is no longer desirable.”
Applicable to accounts issued for reporting periods beginning on or after 1st January 2015, the FRS taxonomies will have to be used by all but the smallest companies (i.e. those with less than £6.5M turnover will continue to use FRSSE, the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities).
How will your current software or outsourcer cope?
FRS 101 and 102 are semantically different from UK GAAP, therefore conventional remapping from one taxonomy to the other is not possible. Consequently, some existing systems will find it hard to handle the transition in a straightforward manner. Seahorse on the other hand will help you through the initial tagging process.
Seahorse® simplifies full accounts tagging
From the very beginning of the iXBRL mandate, Seahorse has offered either minimum or full tagging of Word and Excel documents. There are lots of inbuilt ways in which the software can take the pain out of full tagging, minimising the time taken to apply the full set of tags and generate the iXBRL report.
The power of the learning engine
Seahorse makes it easy to choose the right tag. Principally, the inbuilt learning engine automatically presents you with viable tag options, together with a confidence rating derived from the number of times each tag has been chosen for that particular concept by the community of accounting professionals now using Seahorse to convert their documents. With the arrival of FRS 101 and 102, Seahorse’s learning engine has already been taught about the new taxonomies.
Take a look at how Seahorse makes full accounts tagging easy. The introduction of the new FRS taxonomies and the removal of minimum tagging should hold no fears for Seahorse users.
*Ref. “Company Tax return – taxonomy for new financial reporting standards”