Can we change the name of one of the extensions in our report?

We sometimes get asked if it is possible to change the name given to an extension to match the name used in the report. For instance, if you have a post in your annual financial report which is titled "Financial Income and Expenses" you may find it strange, that we've named the extension "FinanceIncomeAndFinanceCost" and ask us if it could be renamed to "FinanceIncomeAndExpenses".

The short answer is no, and the reason for this is simplicity and transparency.

Keep in mind that the technical layer of an iXBRL file isn't there to add clarity across multiple reports from different issuers. The whole point is, that while you are free to dub a post "Financial Expenses" other issuers are equally free to name similar posts as "Financial Costs", "Monetary Expenses" or simply "Expenses". No matter what it is named in the visual layer of any of these reports, it will be mapped to the taxonomy element called "FinanceCost".

We apply the same logic to creating extensions. If we carry on with the example above, the post titled "Financial Income and Expenses" is actually a summation of two elements; "FinanceIncome" and "FinanceCost", which is why we name the resulting element "FinanceIncomeAndFinanceCost".