Energy Consumption Data from Business Responsibility Report (BRR) and XBRL
Introduction:
Each BR Report is available in human readable form contained in a PDF file. It is also available in machine readable XBR Language contained in a XML file. Both these versions are available NSE website and also on the websites of respective participating organisations.
In this post I will mention the benefits of using the latter. As an example; I will use only energy consumption data of 3 leading Indian IT companies.
What is BRR?
In 2012, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandated the top 100 listed companies by market capitalisation to file Business Responsibility Reports (SEBI-BRRs/ BRR) through the Listing Agreement.
These disclosures were intended to enable businesses to engage more meaningfully with their stakeholders, and encourage them to go beyond regulatory financial compliance and report on their social and environmental impacts.
The requirement for filing BRRs was extended to the top 500 listed companies by market capitalisation from the financial year 2015-16. In March 2019, the updated NVGs were released as the ‘National Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct’ (NGRBCs).
In December 2019, SEBI extended the BRR requirement to the top 1000 listed companies by market capitalisation, from the financial year 2019-20.
BRR was changed to Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) with the introduction of BRSR in May 2021. Reporting is mandatory for the top 1,000 listed companies (by market capitalisation) from FY2022–23, while disclosure is voluntary for FY2021–22. Click SEBI website for more information.
What is XBRL?
XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a language for electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionising business reporting around the world. It offers major benefits to all those who have to create, transmit, use or analyse such information. XBRL has been developed by XBRL International, a not-for-profit consortium of over 600 companies and agencies which is promoting its worldwide use. Please click XBRI org for additional information.
Key benefits of XBRL and XML file format:
Automate the data capture process:
The benefit of using the machine readable XBRL is as follows. You can automate the process of capturing the data from XBRL from one or many XML files. And then bringing in data in to a report you want to prepare. Once you have the data you can manipulate the data. This must be the reason the report is made machine readable by regulators. Regulators can capture data from hundreds of such reports to prepare their report.
Get the precise specific data points:
With XBRL you can capture only the specific data points you want for further study. My example below will show how specific data points related to energy consumption were captured.
You can manually read, copy and capture the data as well. But if you want to capture data from many files, then the process becomes tedious and prone to error. It is also difficult to estimate time to complete the manual task.
An example:
By writing a script (a few lines of code in Python) you will be able to get the precise information you wants. You can bring that information in a report by automating this task.
Here I have scrapped energy usage data of three leading Indian IT companies for year 2021-22. This post is for educational purpose only.
Section - I) covers essential and leadership indicators from the BRR report.
Section - II) covers ratios from the BRR report and prepared by me.
These ratios can be compared across the companies.