Units of Measure

Each numeric value in an XBRLExtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an XML-based standard for defining and exchanging business and financial performance information. instance document must have an associated unit of measure. The unit of measure provides additional information about what the value is beyond the item type. For example, a monetary value reported on the Balance Sheet could be reported in United States Dollars, Japanese Yen, or Canadian Dollars.

Filers are required to use units from the standard XBRL units registry, to ensure that consistent units are used when companies report facts that may be measured in different ways. It also allows automated processes that ensure that appropriate units are used.

Common item types and examples of potential appropriate units of measure:

Item Type	Unit
Area	Acres
Energy	Millions of BTU
Mass	Ounces
Monetary	USD
Per Share	USD / shares

 

To navigate to units of measure, see Numeric Units.

Implicit Power-of-ten Scale Factor

"EFMThe EDGAR Filer Manual (EFM) is a reference document for submitting filings to the SEC via EDGAR. It includes XBRL rules and is updated annually. 6.6.35 Each unit must appear with only one implicit power-of-ten scale factor per instance.

• Us-types:boeItemType:
  • Boe (Barrels of Oil Equivalent), Mboe (Thousand Barrels of Oil Equivalent, MMBoe (Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent)
• 4.3 Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent
  • 4,300,000 Boe (-5) Hundred Thousand
  • 4,300 Mboe (-2) Hundred
  • 4.3 MMBoe (1) Tenth

Filers must use units and implicit scale factors consistently throughout submitted instances."

Generic Item Unit

XBRL.US 2.3.2 Using the Units Registry:

"If creating an extension elementThe representation of a financial reporting concept, including: line items in the face of the financial statements, important narrative disclosures, and rows and columns in tables. that is decimal or integer item type, the unit should be used in the description of the item to be consistent with those items in the taxonomyDictionary-like XBRL classifications that describe the context of data in financial statements and business documents..

Over time, units will be added to the units registry. The filer should check the units registry and use units before creating an extension.

Where the unit is defined as a component of the element, then a generic unit could be used to describe any unit. In these cases, use the unit “item” which can be used to represent any unit. This generic unit would be used when the filer has used pure in the past for disclosures that are not percentages, rates, or a ratio."

Duration Item Types

Duration item types require a specific ISO 8601 format which is used to communicate a period of time, such as a vesting period or estimated useful life. A unit of measure is not applied to a duration item type disclosure.

ISO 8601 format is 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS'

P is the duration designator (for period) placed at the start of the duration representation.

Y is the year designator that follows the value for the number of years.

M is the month designator that follows the value for the number of months.

W is the week designator that follows the value for the number of weeks.

D is the day designator that follows the value for the number of days.

T is the time designator that precedes the time components of the representation.

H is the hour designator that follows the value for the number of hours.

M is the minute designator that follows the value for the number of minutes.

S is the second designator that follows the value for the number of seconds.

Duration Format Examples

Duration in Source	Instance Document Value
One year	P1Y
One month	P1M
6 and a half years	P6Y6M
24 hours	PT24H

 

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