XBRL is becoming more and more popular for financial, tax, statistical, and other reporting purposes. We have seen XBRL implemented in the US for the SEC, in the European Union for COREP/FINREP, and in Australia for SBR. But there are many other national XBRL projects … including those in Poland.

We started thinking about using XBRL in Poland in 2006. As a result, after a few meetings, the Polish jurisdiction of XBRL International (Association XBRL Polska) was established. Since then, awareness of XBRL in Poland has increased dramatically. More and more companies and, what’s more important, public institutions have recognized the power of XBRL in streamlining the reporting process. As a result, XBRL is now used in the banking sector (COREP and FINREP projects, see below), a Polish taxonomy for gathering annual reports is being developed, and other public institutions are cooperating with the association to use XBRL for other purposes (e.g., capital markets, tax reporting, etc.).

The first institution in Poland that decided to use XBRL was National Bank of Poland (NBP). NBP created both FINREP (FINancial REPorting) and COREP (COmmon REPorting) extension taxonomies. FINREP was designed for credit institutions that use IAS/IFRS for their published financial statements, while COREP was designed to create a harmonized reporting framework for the regulatory reporting of the capital ratio. Both taxonomies were based on COREP and FINREP taxonomies created by CEBS.

In Poland, COREP and FINREP assume submission of monthly, quarterly, and annual reports; using XBRL is obligatory. First reports were collected in the fourth quarter of 2007. Since then, about 650 entities have been involved; most of them are banks.

Apart from COREP and FINREP reporting, there are two other XBRL projects which have been started. The first project, started in 2009 and being realized by the Chancellery of Prime Minister (CO KPRM), is related to collection and publication of financial statements based on Polish GAAP and IFRS. At the beginning of 2010, a proper taxonomy specification was created by Association XBRL Poland; the contractor to fulfill the specification was chosen by CO KPRM in July. It is expected the taxonomy will be released for public comment at the beginning of 2011 and it may be used for electronic filling starting in 2012. As a result of this project, over 30,000 companies will be allowed to file XBRL-based annual reports.

The second project is being developed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. In 2009, this institution issued a tender for gathering, maintaining, analyzing, and redistributing filed accounts by listed companies in XBRL. Unfortunately, after a few months, the tender was suspended. We hope it will resume shortly.

In addition to the above activities, the Association works with self-governing and government bodies to introduce them to the benefits of the XBRL standard. We are talking with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Justice, Central Statistical Office, and the Chancellery of Prime Minister. The aim of these talks is to establish a project that will standardize business reporting processes for public institutions by harmonizing the exchange of information between them.

XBRL implementation in Poland is moving forward. We have one well-established XBRL project and are moving ahead on other fronts. We are hopeful that Poland will soon be seen as an outstanding example of XBRL implementation for other Central and Eastern European countries.

by Adam Walaszek