FAF/FASB Taxonomy Role

In 2010, the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) assumed ongoing development and maintenance responsibilities for the US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy (Taxonomy), which was originally developed by XBRL US, Inc. under contract to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In 2009, the SEC issued rules requiring public companies and foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements in accordance with US GAAP to phase in use of the Taxonomy. Under these rules, companies will tag and submit their financial statements and related notes to the SEC using the Taxonomy.

A key objective for moving the Taxonomy development and maintenance responsibilities to the FAF and the FASB is to achieve greater integration with the FASB’s standard-setting, codification, and related processes. FASB cross-team efforts are furthering this outcome.

The FAF/FASB activities are focused on updating the Taxonomy for changes in US GAAP, identifying common reporting practices in filer taxonomy extensions, and other technical enhancements. The Taxonomy team works closely with the staff of the SEC, the staff of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), XBRL US, Inc., investors, issuers, accounting firms, and other stakeholders to develop updates that are of the highest quality.


Taxonomy (XBRL)

What's New—XBRL

2020 GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy and SEC Reporting Taxonomy Now Available (December 20, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Proposed Taxonomy Improvements for a Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Codification Improvements (December 4, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Proposed Taxonomy Improvements for a Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Codification Improvements to Hedge Accounting (November 13, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Proposed XBRL US DQC Rules Taxonomy and Accompanying Technical Guide (October 17, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Technical and Other Conforming Improvements, Proposed Taxonomy Improvements—Reference Project, Proposed Taxonomy Improvements—Variable Interest Entities Modeling, Proposed Taxonomy Improvements—Accounting Standards Update Transition Methods, and Proposed Taxonomy Improvements—Retirement Benefits Topical Focus Project—Phase 3, for the 2020 US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy (October 4, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Proposed Taxonomy Improvements for a Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting, and a Proposed Accounting Standards Update (Revised), Debt (Topic 470): Simplifying the Classification of Debt in a Classified Balance Sheet (Current versus Noncurrent) (September 16, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Proposed Technical and Other Conforming Improvements to the 2020 SEC Reporting Taxonomy (September 9, 2019)
FASB Staff Issues Proposed Taxonomy Improvements for a Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Equity's Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) and a Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Financial Services—Insurance (Topic 944): Effective Date (August 22, 2019)
SEC Announces EDGAR System Upgrade: 2017 GAAP Taxonomy No Longer Supported (June 12, 2019)
FASB Adds Taxonomy Entry Points to Address FAST Act Updates in the 2019 DEI Taxonomy (June 11, 2019)
SEC Accepts 2019 GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy and SEC Reporting Taxonomy (March 12, 2019)
Video: The XBRL Data User Perspective
Video: The GAAP Taxonomy: Why It’s Important