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Dimensions redux #577

@mpreiss9

Description

@mpreiss9

Issue Type

  • [X ] Data Quality Issue (incorrect financial values, missing data)
  • XBRL Parsing Issue (statement rendering, concept mapping)
  • Filing Access Issue (download failures, attachment problems)
  • Performance Issue (slow operations, memory problems)
  • Compatibility Issue (platform/dependency conflicts)
  • Documentation Issue (unclear instructions, missing examples)

Environment

EdgarTools Version: 5.7.1
Python Version: 3.14
Operating System: macOS 14.0

Bug Description

There's been a lot of back on forth on the dimensions issue. Although I think we're heading in the right direction, I don't think we're at the destination yet.

The major remaining problem I want to call out it that using xbrl.statements.income_statement(include_dimensions=False) or
xbrl.statements.income_statement() or xbrl.statements.balance_sheet(include_dimensions=False) or
xbrl.statements.balance_sheet()
will in MANY CASES produce and incomplete and out of balance statement that does not match the printed, reported financial statements. Why? Because some filers choose to report a line item in their financials with ONLY dimensional xbrl lines. Anyone using the default xbrl statement calls needs to be aware that they may have an incomplete statement.
This seems to be an income statement issue. I have not yet found a case like it in the balance sheet.

Reproduction

A small subset of problems
Cost of Goods Sold: BA 2023+, CARR 2020+, CHH 2022, CHRW 2018+, GD 2020+, HII 2020+, INTU 2018+, NOC 2019+, OTIS 2020+, RTX 2019+, SLB 2018+, STE 2019, TT 2019+, UPS 2018, VZ 2020+, WDAY 2019+, GEHC 2024+
SGA: CTAS 2020+
Depreciation/Amortization: EXPD 2018, CHH 2022, MAR 2022
LongTermDebtAndCapitalLeaseObligations: ADP 2023+, CAT 2020+
ContractWithCustomerLiabilityCurrent: BBY 2021+
Goodwill: BSX 2019, IBM 2023+, JKHY 2016+
Intangible assets: JKHY 2016+
PPE: BSX 2019, CSX 2015 +, HLT 2022+
Short term debt: CAT 2020+
Payables: COP 2023, 2024, HLT 2019+( and many other categories), LYB 2023+
Receivables: COP 2023 2024, FIS 2024+, GEHC 2023+, GEV 2024+, LYB 2023+

There are many many more line items and filings with this problem, more than I can list.
There are some line items but these are the common ones.
Relevant Forms: 10-K

Additional Context

If there is going to be a default dimensions=False option, I see two possible paths to improvement:

  1. Document that dimensions=False or not providing this parameter may lead to an incomplete and out of balance balance sheet or income statement
  2. Add some more sophistication to the default option so certain dimensional data is provided anyway if and only if it's required to make the xbrl match the printed (i.e. html) statement. This will be hard - I've been working on doing this with the dimensional xbrl data for a couple months and still find corner cases that can't be resolved. Filers have been VERY creative in misusing the xbrl standards!

This issue will be handled using EdgarTools' systematic issue resolution workflow. A reproduction test will be created to verify the fix.

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