NASBP, along with AIG, GALLINA LLP, Liberty Mutual Surety, Travelers, and Zurich are working to conduct a pilot on the use of standards to reduce costs and streamline processing in the transfer of financial data between construction CPAs, contractors, agents and carriers. As part of this pilot, a glossary of digital terms (the technical term is "XBRL taxonomy") has been developed to represent the Work in Process (WIP) report. Other participants in the working group are the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA).
XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a structured data standard that makes business and financial information computer-readable and more easily consumed. It is currently used in the US for financial statement reporting by public companies and banks. The taxonomy includes financial terms used in the WIP report including revenues, costs and percentage complete which the surety relies on when bonding contracts.
XBRL US announced today the start of a 60-day public review and comment period to collect further input to a draft Work in Process (WIP) Taxonomy. This digital dictionary of terms was developed to evaluate how structured data can streamline surety underwriting data processing to reduce costs and increase timeliness and consistency. Sureties, bonding agents, and accountants in the surety industry are encouraged to review and provide comments on the taxonomy and on a preparers guide. Software providers in the surety industry are invited to review the taxonomy and sample XBRL-formatted WIP reports to assess how their tools may be adapted. Read the full press release by clicking here.
To participate in the public review, click here.
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