What kind of review material will I receive?
As an experienced SEC XBRL service provider, we follow the SEC’s recommendation of breaking the filing process into two steps: Mapping and tagging. Therefore, you will receive two sets of proofs. The first is the mapping report, which matches the line items and footnotes from your company's financial statements to the most appropriate element in the taxonomy, is reusable for all your 10-Q and 10-K filings, and need be reviewed only once. The second report is the tagging (or values) report, which indicates the dates and values associated with each item, and is specific to the 10-Q or 10-K being filed.
When are the review reports provided?
Because the mapping is associated with line item descriptions (e.g. “Current Assets”) and footnote titles (e.g. “Basis of Presentation”) that typically do not change, the mapping can be done at any time utilizing past filings as a template, and a report returned to the client, within about a week after a client authorizes us to begin. The tagging report can be done when the filing is ready to be "edgarized." As an experienced XBRL filing agency, we strongly recommend that companies begin the mapping process several filings before they are required to submit their XBRL filings to the SEC. This allows companies sufficient time to approve the selected elements in a non-rush setting.
How does Southridge Services have such inexpensive XBRL filing costs?
All work is done by experienced English-speaking accountants who have significant expertise in the entire XBRL filing process. Specifically, we prepare beforehand, set up repeatable processes, and do not take shortcuts. Quality throughout the process is how we keep our XBRL processing costs very reasonably priced.
Can XBRL processing be done by companies in-house?
Of course! In fact, the SEC continually reminds all corporate filers that they are responsible for their company’s filings, no matter whether the XBRL filings are prepared in-house or out-sourced. If your company plans to prepare your XBRL filings in-house, recognize that there are several significant learning curves:
First, study the SEC’s EDGAR filing manual and the XBRL Preparers Guide. You’ll also need to keep current with clarifying best-practice dialogues from the SEC to learn from others' mistakes.
Second, become very familiar with the US GAAP taxonomy, and keep current with its periodic updates (the 2009 version had many significant updates in the 2011 version, which was approved by the SEC in early 2011). With 15,966 concepts in the current taxonomy, you’ll need to know how to search for candidate elements, and then determine which is the most appropriate.
Third, analyze, select and purchase a reputable XBRL software program. Knowing “what” should be done from the above steps is sometimes quite different from being able to make it happen in a software program.
Or you can save yourself all that headache, and outsouce it to an experienced XBRL provider. We review first your Notes to the Financial Statements to become familiar with the operations of your business. As we map each line item, we document comments regarding why particular elements were chosen over other candidates (which provides documentation to satisfy your internal controls requirements). We also highlight any lingering questions requiring additional clarification from the company, which assures a high-quality XBRL filing that is processed in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
As an experienced EDGAR XBRL filing agency, Southridge Services can be your trusted XBRL filing partner so you can stick to the business of running your business. Utilizing our experience and expertise as your EDGAR XBRL filing agency will certainly increase both the quality and efficiency of your filings.
What is Southridge Services’ “efficient and thorough” element selection (mapping) process?
As an experienced XBRL filer, we know where to look for and immediately map the most obvious elements (e.g. “Current Assets”). We don’t waste our time or your time with the obvious. This leads, in part, to an efficient mapping procedure.
Also regarding efficiency: We establish certain in-house technologies that link the format of a company’s financials as they provide them to us, to the required output format. This behind-the-scenes setup work saves everyone time in all subsequent filings.
However, we do not sacrifice quality for expediency, and our experience helps us know where the “curve-balls” lie within the taxonomy. As a simple example, the first line on the Balance Sheet is typically “Cash.” Some companies therefore do a quick search, then find and select “Cash” as the correct element. However, as an experienced XBRL filing agency, we know that “Cash” is actually a sibling element of “Cash Equivalents,” with “Cash and Cash Equivalents” being the parent (total) element that is used by most entities, as most often companies have transactions that are both Cash and Cash Equivalents reported on the same line. Therefore, we will typically incorporate a quick “Yes/No” question into the mapping report to request the client to clarify the actual contents of the transactions that are behind the label. This is just one of many examples in which a naïve or uncaring XBRL filing agency may select the wrong element (and we’ve seen many examples of companies who quickly skim for any acceptable “top-level” element, and do not care or maybe know that a more appropriate and more specific element lies elsewhere within the taxonomy).
As an experienced SEC XBRL filing agency, we have also developed several distinct and efficient search techniques to find the most appropriate element. We won’t discuss all of these proprietary techniques herein (as much as we’d love to brag it up!). Let’s just say we very much comply with the SEC’s recommendation to utilize several search techniques to find the most appropriate element.
Having worked with several clients as their EDGAR XBRL service provider, we certainly know that a detailed list of too many questions could overwhelm the client and stall the whole process, and lead to no real value besides. Therefore, the mapping report we provide utilizes easily identifiable footnotes to address each question in an efficient and organized manner. Thus, we perform all the detail work and analysis, leaving relatively few executive-level yes/no questions for the client.
The efficient and thorough mapping process results in a document that provides more than just documentation of appropriate controls and procedures regarding this important piece of financial reporting, but also real peace-of-mind that comes from knowing their XBRL projects are solid.
Does Southridge Services provide XBRL consulting services to other edgarizers?
There are many EDGAR filing agencies, but few are also XBRL filing agents. Southridge Services is an established EDGAR XBRL filing agency, and as such, we can assist other filing agents with their clients’ XBRL filings. We can provide either basic XBRL consulting services, should a filing agency need only basic peer review, or complete XBRL filing services. It is noteworthy to point out that some foreign-based XBRL start-ups are approaching filing agencies with very low rates. We have sent these companies test filings, and have found several errors, such as: reporting the opposite value as what should be reported (this is due to the fact that the filings are processed by "techies" instead of trained accountants who do not know the difference between a debit and a credit, and the implications in XBRL). They also may not have a "facts" report to even be able to begin to identify incorrect data points. Also, we have seen entire sections of data missing (an entire parenthetical table excluded, for example). We have also seen elements selected that are a far cry from the correct item. If you want to avoid future problems (inclusive of potential liability issues) then have your work done by an XBRL filing specialist - Southridge Services.
Call us today at 877-553-3427.
Or send a quick email to info@sec-report-filing.com.
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