You no longer need to leave the comfort of Excel in order to download reams of XBRL data. Through the wonder of web queries, XBRL Sheet provides instant access to the latest filings for an unlimited number of companies. Want to add an additional company to your model, no problem, just create a new query or better still copy an existing one and change the "Co Id" parameter. Want to load up an older filing, just change the period parameter. See the FAQ's for more information on how to do this.
The example spreadsheet downloadable from here follows the same Model/Standard/XBRL arrangement that allows you to hack the data without disturbing your model (or trash the model without effecting your ability to populate a new one - see Looking up XBRL in Excel).
Now, using web queries, you can ensure that the model is always up to date. Set the external data range option to refresh on opening and if you are using the same period parameter that I've set in the example spreadsheet, it will always download the latest filings on opening.
The other beauty of using web queries is that they can quickly be incorporated into a VBA macro so say you wanted to home in on a particular value or ratio for 100 companies, you could write a VBA Macro using XBRL Sheet to do just that. In fact I ought to knock one up and put it in a future post!
Watch the "How To" video here, download the example spreadsheet here and read the FAQ's here.
And to understand more about web queries, you may want to visit this site. Or if you are using a Mac, try this one.
UPDATE: New video to watch showing how to access 10 years of data in the very latest version and here's the post that goes with it.
Now back to the data issues......
