XBRL Global Ledger (GL), is intended to enable the efficient handling of financial and business information contained within an organisation. Often this is scattered across disparate accounting systems. XBRL allows it to be brought together, analysed and used in a highly cost-effective way, overcoming the inefficiencies of different accounting systems or approaches.

The Global Ledger allows the representation of anything that is found in an ERP systems: setup files, master files, transaction files and history files, and deals with information both financial and non-financial. It does not require a standardised chart of accounts to gather information, but it can be used to tie legacy charts of accounts and accounting detail to a standardised chart of accounts to improve communications within a business.

XBRL GL is reporting independent. It collects general ledger and after-the-fact receivables, payables, inventory and other non-financial facts, and then permits the representation of that information using traditional summaries and through flexible links to XBRL for reporting.

XBRL GL is system independent. Any developer can create import and export routines to convert information to XBRL GL format. This means that accounting software developers need only consider one design for their XML import/export file formats. Application service providers can offer to supply XBRL import and output so end-users can more easily use their own data. Companies developing operational products, such as point of sale systems or job costing, or reporting tools can link with many accounting products without needing specialised links to each one.

To see examples of the Global Ledger, visit http://gl.iphix.net