What is a 'Scale Error'?

A 'Scale Error' is a common tagging mistake in XBRL, where the filier inputs a number in the wrong order of scale. In other words, they put too many or too few zeros ($1,527 instead of $1,527,000). This is a common mistake because numbers are commonly truncated when displayed in financial reports, to make for easier reading. But in the XBRL all numbers must be the actual value. Calcbench has a number of automates checks to catch and fix this type of error to maintain data quality.