How to use XBRLAnalyst in Excel
XBRLAnalyst for Excel implements two main approaches for analyzing financial data from the reports of public companies submitted to SEC: 10-K, 10-Q, and other filings.
- First, the user should fully leverage the powerful new built-in functions such as XBRLFact that can connect directly to the database and bring necessary data where the user needs it. You may use those functions the same way you use any other Excel functions such as Average or Max.
- Second, the user can use different tools provided on the new Ribbon added by XBRLAnalyst to Excel. Those tools range from different Viewers for the financial filings submitted to SEC to Custom Reports such as Compare companies and Historical data. For more details, see the explanations below.
XBRLFact (new Excel function)
XBRLFact is a new simple function for accessing in Excel financial XBRL facts from reports submitted to SEC in XBRL format.
You can use it in your financial models or reports as any other Excel function. In its simplest form “=XBRLFact(Ticker, FinTerm)“, it requires only two input parameters: company identifier (ticker, full name or CIK code) and data identifier (XBRL tag such as NetIncomeLoss or financial term in square brackets such as [Revenue]). It will return the financial term value from the latest report of the company directly into Excel cell.
Specifying periods in XBRLFact
If you want to specify the period, just add it in the third parameter “=XBRLFact(Ticker, FinTerm, PeriodCode)” in the form “2014-Q3”. Alternatively, you may enter a year in the third place and the fiscal period code (Q3 or H1 or FY) in the fourth place. XBRLFact will always search for the most recent report (filing) where an XBRL fact for that period occurs. First three parameters can also reference arrays of cell. In that case, XBRLFact will return an array of results.
Sometimes, you may need to force XBRLFact to use a specific report. In this case, add a colon and report fiscal period or accession number in the fourth parameter. This can be used for searching amended values (View or Download our Excel file with analysis of Fortune 500 companies)
XBRLFact can return business segment data in Excel
If you are looking for business segment data or other financial details provided in the footnotes to financial statements, you can use XBRLFact with the fifth parameter called Members. When Members parameter is “All”, XBRLFact will return an array of all details corresponding to the FinTerm, e.g. =XBRLFact(“CTXS”,”SalesRevenueNet”,2013,”Q3″,”All”). Otherwise, you may specify a comma separated list of the financial term Members/Components.
XBRLFact can search data by terms with wildcards
If you do not know exactly the name of a financial term (FinTerm), you can use the wildcard “%” in the second parameter of XBRLFact, e.g. for tax rate use =XBRLFact(“MSFT”,”%taxrate%operations%”,”2013-FY”). It tells XBRLFact to search for any XBRL data with arbitrary text in place of the wildcard “%”.
Data Viewers
Financial Statements Viewer
This viewer provides full access to all XBRL reports submitted to SEC and allows searching by companies and industries. You can use it for exporting the reports in Excel, pasting individual data in your Excel model or even automatically building XBRLFact formulas with the Build Formula button. If you double click any account label, a new Value Viewer will open up (see description below).
Footnotes Viewer
This viewer provides full access to all text footnotes in the reports and allows searching by keywords. You can also use it to Paste specific footnotes in Excel for saving in the file.
XBRL Tags Viewer
This viewer provides full access to ALL XBRL Tags used in the reports and allows searching the list of tags by keywords. It also allows filtering the tags by those that contain dimensional information (additional details such as business segment information) or those that are extensions added by the company, i.e. defined outside of standard US-GAAP taxonomy. If you double click any tag, a new Value Viewer will open up.
XBRL Facts/Values Viewer
This viewer provides full details about any selected account/XBRL tag. It contains 2 Tabs: Line Items and Dimensions (available in Corporate version of XBRLAnalyst only). The Values Viewer also allows pasting any value in your Excel model or quickly building an XBRLFact formula with all required parameters.
Data annotation and cross-checking in statements
XBRL Fact annotations
Every data point that XBRLFact or custom report adds to Excel is fully described and annotated in the Comment box. The comment box is color-coded: Green – value belongs to a financial statement; Olive – value belongs to footnotes; Yellow – other source of information, e.g. DEI: Document and Entity Information. It also provides full transparency for calculated values, i.e. it shows XBRL tags and their values that contributed to the calculated answer.
Back-linking XBRL Facts to Statements
Every data point that XBRLFact or custom report adds to Excel is also back-linked to the Financial Statements if it comes from there. You just need to select the value in Excel cell and click View Statements. The appropriate financial statement will be selected and the values highlighted.
Custom Reports
You can quickly generate a Company Comparison report for a basket of companies from the same industry or different industry sectors. Simply click Compare Companies button on the XBRLAnalyst Ribbon and follow three easy steps. There are several output styles for the report and more can be added at users request.
Historical data report
You can quickly obtain historical financial data for one or many companies using Historical Report. Its interface is similar to the previous Compare Companies report. It provides a very easy tool for loading many years of financial data in your Excel worksheet.
