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xbrl

In XBRL, is the same presentation network valid for all the contexts in a single SEC filing?

Are presentation networks/hierarchies independent of the contexts of the facts that populate them?

For example, within an instance document, I see many facts that are duplicated for concepts, but with different contexts. Obviously this is because they represent different years for a particular table, ex. income statement for the previous year or previous quarter.

However, is the presentation hierarchy valid for all contexts and it doesn't change for different contexts in the same SEC filing?

Solution

  • The simple answer is yes, presentation hierarchies are independent of contexts. There is no mechanism for tying particular hierarchies to particular contexts.

    There are two details worth noting:

    1. The presentation hierarchy can indicate where a concept is used as an opening balance or a closing balance (using the "preferred label" mechanism to select either a periodStartLabel or a periodEndLabel). Where this happens, tools that use the presentation hierarchy to display report information will select concepts from different contexts.

    2. The SEC XBRL Renderer applies some filtering to which facts are shown in each section. For example, if the same concept appears in the presentation for a primary financial statement, and for a note, the renderer may filter out facts that are intended for the note so that they are not shown on the primary financial statement. For example, if you look at this 10-Q, under "Financial Statements->Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations" you'll see "Net Sales" as the first line. If you look under the 5th table under "Notes Details" you'll see a breakdown of "Net Sales" by product line. Despite using the same concept, most of the facts on this note are not shown on the first statement. Note that this filtering is a feature of this particular rendering engine, and is not part of the XBRL standard.