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SEC mandates XBRL for all major public company filings


By David Worthington
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December 22, 2008 —  Midway through 2009, the largest public companies in the United States will be required to file their financial reports in a format that makes data more immediately available for analysis. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued its final ruling yesterday [in December] on the mandated use of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). The mandate was approved in a 4-to-1 vote. The European Union Central Bank Supervisors and the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have already adopted XBRL as a standard for bank reporting.

The SEC initially voted to require XBRL reporting in May, but left the door open for stakeholders to express their opinions and questions on the mandate.

When the rule takes effect, 500 companies will be required to comply, and the SEC will phase in all remaining public companies over the next two years, according to an SEC meeting Webcast.

XBRL is an emerging XML-based standard to define and exchange business and financial performance information, and it is governed by XBRL International, a not-for-profit consortium. Taxonomies in XBRL provide a set of tags that represent Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for financial reporting.

In practice, XBRL promises to make internal and external financial information available in real time. Additionally, XBRL automates data transfer: information does not have to be re-entered, there is an absence of human errors introduced by intermediaries and any error is preserved.

"This is the glimmer of a movement that will transform business information (and regulation) in much the same way," said Mark Bolgiano, president and CEO of XBRL US, a consortium dedicated to the standard's adoption in the United States.

"Visibility into information for everyone-not just government and investors-will increase enough to shift the notions of oversight and regulation as much as the notions of journalism and publishing shifted with the Web."

To soften the transition to XBRL, the consortium will be offering training workshops for XBRL filers, free educational Webinars for filers, a GAAP taxonomies preparers guide, and other supportive tools and documentation.




Related Search Term(s): finances, XBRL, XML


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