Research Services - Investor use of structured company data

****THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE****

ABOUT THE FRC The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries and sets the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. We seek to promote transparency and integrity in business; our work is aimed at investors and others who rely on company accounts, audit, and high-quality risk management. As the Competent Authority for audit in the UK, the FRC sets auditing and ethical standards and monitors and enforces audit quality.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Historically, investors and others looking to obtain financial and non-financial data about companies in bulk had to compile it from unstructured PDF reports or pay for access to third-party databases. However, in recent years, companies have increasingly been required to report in machine-readable formats, making structured data publicly available. The United Kingdom has mandated the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for corporate tax returns. In 2021 the XBRL requirements were extended for listed companies to include consolidated financial statements. A requirement to use XBRL in filings to Companies House is expected in future. As XBRL reporting requirements continue to evolve and are extended to new reporting areas (for example in sustainability-related data), it is important for regulators to understand how XBRL data is actually being used by investors, and how this compares to their use of other sources of structured data. This will allow regulators to identify the barriers to wider usage and opportunities for improving accessibility and efficiency. Unfortunately, there is little contemporary and direct evidence on the use of the XBRL data in practice. Existing research is based mainly on 'indirect' studies, while the gathering of direct evidence has been rather limited.

The aim of this research project is to answer the following questions:

1. What attributes do investors value most in choosing a source for structured company data - for example: ease of access, cost, timeliness, assurance, data quality etc.? 2. In practice, are investors using information from annual reports in XBRL format? a. If so, how are they accessing and using it? For example, are they accessing the XBRL data directly or through an intermediary? How does it flow into their analysis? b. If not, what are the main barriers to the use of XBRL data and what attributes is the XBRL data lacking? Which other sources of structured data do they use instead (for example commercial platforms providing proprietary structured data)?

This research project would principally feed into wider FRC Lab work on XBRL use by investors.

Additional information: THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE.

THIS TENDER HAS BEEN COMPLETED.