XBRL opens up possiblities for financial statement analysis and consolidation. Infact XBRL views and reports can be used to collate data and information from various resources. In some of my earlier posts, I had discussed the basic concepts of XBRL and how taxonomies work in XBRL. The process of consolidation of financial statements can be a cumbersome and tiring process. Well, help is on the way. With XBRL GL Journal taxonomies, data found in sub-ledgers and in general ledger can be consolidated, aggregated and filtered according to the needs of the organization.

The basic steps in the consolidation of financial statements using XBRL GL are listed below. Though, at this time I am not going into the details of each step, the steps below provide a summary of what the consolidation process looks like in XBRL GL.

1. Collecting data from various sources and uploading data into GL.

2. Mapping the data into local data format for easy understanding.

3. Mapping accounting and reporting structure to XBRL standard consolidated chart of accounts.

4. Collating entries from various data formats into a single easy to read common data format.

5. Performing foreign exchange currency conversions using exchange rates at the time of transactions.

6. Identify intercompany entries to be eliminated and eliminating the journal entries using the XBRL GL elimination code.

7. Entering adjustment entries using XBRL GL's entry types such as recurring, external, standard, reclassification etc.

8. The last step is actual preperation of reports which can be used across various regulation such as US GAAP, IFRS, UK GAAP etc. Using consolidations in XBRL, an entry can be traced through its initiation to its end in the financial statements.

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