NEWS RELEASE 03/21/13

FASB Adds Three Additional Implementation Guides to the XBRL Series

Norwalk, CT, March 21, 2013—The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently added three Implementation Guides to the XBRL series, including two for the insurance industry. The guides are designed to help users of the U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy understand how certain disclosures are structured within the Taxonomy. All guides are available at www.fasb.org.

U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy Implementation Guide—Insurance Industry: Concentration of Credit Risk Disclosures demonstrates modeling for disclosures of ceded credit risk with a single credit rating, multiple credit ratings, and those shown in more than one table.

U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy Implementation Guide—Insurance Industry: Reinsurance-Related Disclosures provides XBRL users with a model for disclosing risk management objectives and retention policies, effects of reinsurance, and the supplemental schedule of reinsurance, which is required by SEC Regulation S-X, 210.12-17. This Implementation Guide does not cover concentrations of credit risk resulting from reinsurance arrangements.

U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy Implementation Guide—Segment Reporting demonstrates the modeling for disclosures related to segment reporting.

The examples in each of these Implementation Guides are not intended to comprise all of the potential modeling configurations or to dictate the appearance and structure of a company’s XBRL documents, but to provide examples of common disclosure presentations in each of the specified areas.

The Taxonomy is a list of computer-readable tags in XBRL that allows companies to tag precisely the thousands of pieces of financial data that are included in typical long-form financial statements and related footnote disclosures. The tags allow computers to automatically search for, assemble, and process data so it can be readily accessed and analyzed by investors, analysts, journalists, and regulators.

The XBRL Implementation Guide series is part of the continuing effort of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) and the FASB to update the Taxonomy for changes in U.S. GAAP, identify best practices in Taxonomy extensions, and offer technical enhancements.


About the Financial Accounting Standards Board

Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.