XBRL AUDIT CASE:
CASE SCENARIO
 Mark & Sons Future Technology Co. (hereafter, MSFT) is a
$40 billion public company that provides high-technology
products and services.
 Currently, XBRL does not require independent assurance.
However, to enhance users’ confidence and widespread
adoption of XBRL, assurance on the XBRL-Related
Documents will be needed to reduce users’ uncertainties
about the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of the
XBRL-tagged information.
 The CFO of MSFT, Gerry Thompson, wants the recent
XBRL filing of MSFT to be audited to assure its quality.
 After completing his master’s degree in accounting at the
University of Waterloo, Mike Cullen was hired as an auditor
by Waterloo & Co., an accounting firm.
 He has worked as an auditor for five years.
 Mike has been requested to manage an assurance
engagement on the XBRL-Related Documents of MSFT.
XBRL AUDIT CASE:
ASSURANCE ENGAGEMENT PROCEDURES
 Client/engagement acceptance
 Audit Planning
 Testing and Collecting Evidence
 Internal Control (Task a-1)
 Compliance (Task b-1 to Task b-2)
 Suitability (Task c-1 to Task c-3)
 Accuracy (Task d-1 to Task d-3)
 Completeness (Task e-1)
 Occurrence (Task f-1)
 Consistency (Task g-1 and Task g-2)
 Evaluation and Reporting
USEFUL FUNCTIONS FOR XBRL
ASSURANCE
CAAT Functions
Clearly and easily display XBRL-related
documents (i.e., instance documents, taxonomy
schemas, and linkbases).
Provide a search mechanism that enables users to
search for a specific element, context, label, etc.
Provide generic query and report writing
capability for pulling information from instance
document and taxonomies.
Provide audit trails.
Enable exchange of data (e.g., parsing data and
test results) with other tools.
Validation
Check whether an instance document and
company extension taxonomies comply with:
Function Description
1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-7
1-8
2-1
2-2
3-1
Display raw XBRL codes.
Provide detailed information about standard taxonomies and extension taxonomies.
Summarize the structure of linkbases.
Show information about any customization applied (e.g., custom labels used in the presentation linkbase as opposed
to the standard labels).
Display all detailed information about instance documents (e.g. context and unit information).
Display block-tagged data such as notes and MD&A.
Display and download official and XBRL filings.
Display and check reference information (e.g., FASB codification references).
Display official taxonomies.
Navigate standard taxonomies (e.g., XBRL US taxonomies) to obtain detailed information about official elements.
Generate reports (e.g., review reports and summary of taxonomies).
4-1
4-2
5-1
Track tests performed.
Store checklists, documentation of tests, reviewer comments, etc.
Export rendered document to Excel, Word, etc.
5-2
7-1
Check whether an instance document and company extension taxonomies comply with relevant specifications (e.g.,
XML v1.1, XLINK v1.0, and XBRL Specification v2.1).
Check whether an instance document and company extension taxonomies comply with regulatory requirements
(e.g., the EDGAR Filer manual).
Check whether an instance document and company extension taxonomies comply with other guidelines (e.g., XBRL
US Taxonomy Preparers Guide, FRIS, and FRTA).
Display appropriate reference information, validation criteria, rules (e.g., XBRL Specification and SEC
requirements).
Provide adequate messages (e.g., detailed error messages for instance and taxonomy validation tests).
Provide automated identification of matching content in source document and XBRL extension taxonomies and
instance documents (best match).
Provide automated highlighting of matching content in source document or XBRL-related documents based on
manual selection and ability of software users to accept and store mappings.
Provide tracking the manual mapping of content in source document with XBRL extension taxonomies and instance
documents.
Enable users to generate reports based on the presentation linkbase.
7-2
Display dimensioned data in a table-like view.
5-3
5-4
5-5
Mapping/Tracing
Map elements in the instance document to the
business facts in the official financial statements
for comparing the business facts of the official
financial statements with the instance document.
Rendering
Render instance documents to enable visual
review and detailed checking of instance
5-6
6-1
6-2
6-3
A COMPUTER-ASSISTED AUDIT TOOL:
XBRL AUDIT ASSISTANT (XAA)
Workbench
Pane
Element
View Pane
Information
View Pane
Linkbase
View Pane
A COMPUTER-ASSISTED AUDIT TOOL:
XBRL AUDIT ASSISTANT (XAA)

Render XBRL instance documents to enable
visual review and detailed checking of XBRL
instance documents to original financial
statements.
Help auditors assess whether the data elements in
the instance document reflect the same
information as the corresponding financial facts
in the official financial statements.
Graphically represent XBRL elements to
 Map the business facts in the official
discriminate between those from official XBRL
financial statements to the XBRLtaxonomies and those from companies’ own
tagged data in an instance document.
extension taxonomies.
 Help auditors to determine whether
Help auditors understand taxonomies used to
XBRL-tagged data are complete and
create the instance document and the sources of the
accurate reflection of the business facts
XBRL elements.
in the official financial statements.




Graphically represent a systematic structure of
the XBRL instance document such as logical
ordering of contexts, segments, and elements.

Help auditors understand reporting period, units,
the elements used in the instance document, etc.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
COMPLIANCE (Task 1)
 Objective:
The XBRL-Related Documents are created in accordance with the XBRL specifications and
regulatory requirements.
 Audit task:
 Evaluate whether the XBRL instance document complies with the appropriate XBRL specification and
appropriate XBRL taxonomies.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
SUITABILITY (Task 2)
 Objective:
Appropriate taxonomies are used to tag the underlying business facts in the official filing and
the extension taxonomies are necessary to create the instance documents.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
SUITABILITY (Task 2)
 Objective:
Appropriate taxonomies are used to tag the underlying business facts in the official filing
and the extension taxonomies are necessary to create the instance documents.
 Audit tasks:
 Evaluate the suitability of elements and extension taxonomies.
 Assess the appropriateness of the elements used to tag the underlying data.
 Determine the proper use of taxonomy extensions.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
ACCURACY (Task 3)
 Objective:
The XBRL-tagged data in the instance document accurately reflect, in all material respects,
all business facts presented in the official financial statements.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
ACCURACY (Task 3)
 Objective:
The XBRL-tagged data in the instance document accurately reflect, in all material respects,
all business facts presented in the official financial statements.
 Audit tasks:
 Check the accuracy of elements.
 Compare the rendered instance document to the corresponding business facts in the official filing.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
COMPLETENESS (Task 4)
 Objective:
All business facts in the official filings are completely tagged in the instance document.
 Audit task:
 Assess that all business facts in the corresponding official filing are completely tagged.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
COMPLETENESS (Task 4)
 Objective:
All business facts in the official filings are completely tagged in the instance document.
 Audit tasks:
 Assess that all business facts in the corresponding official filing are completely tagged.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
OCCURRENCE (Task 5)
 Objective:
The instance document only contains valid information.
 Audit task:
 Assess that information not in the official filing is not in the instance documents.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
OCCURRENCE (Task 5)
 Objective:
The instance document only contains valid information.
 Audit task:
 Assess that information not in the official filing is not in the instance documents.
XBRL AUDIT EXERCISE:
CONSISTENCY (Task 6)
 Objective:
The instance The XBRL-related documents are properly managed to ensure consistency.
 Audit tasks:
 Evaluate whether the same elements are used to tag the same business facts across reporting period
and whether the same rules are applied to create context information for the instance documents of
different period.