Three SEC Rule Proposals on XBRL Issued within Past 30 Days
XBRL US, the national consortium for XML standards for business and financial information reporting, announced that the infrastructure it developed for US GAAP reporting in XBRL format is ready and able to support future interactive data reporting applications. XBRL US completed a contract with the SEC this Spring to build out the collection of financial and business reporting terms representing U.S. GAAP required disclosures and common reporting practices (taxonomies) that public companies will use to create their own XBRL-formatted financial statements. The collection of terms and a comprehensive Preparers Guide were delivered to the SEC on April 28, 2008. The taxonomies and Preparers Guide can be viewed at http://xbrl.us/pages/us-gaap.aspx
“The framework developed by XBRL US for US GAAP reporting serves as the foundation for a growing list of interactive data initiatives,” said David Blaszkowsky, Director of the Office of Interactive Disclosure, Securities and Exchange Commission, “Together we’re creating an environment for making data more accessible, more accurate and more reliable. It promises a whole new level of standardization of tools as well as information, and the bottom line is better business and investment decisions.”
The SEC has issued three announcements within the past 30 days related to rule proposals requiring the use of XBRL. On May 14, 2008, the SEC commissioners met in an open meeting and unanimously approved a comprehensive rule proposal that would mandate the use of interactive data for public company filing, following a phased approach requiring the largest accelerated filers using US GAAP (those with a worldwide public float over $5 billion) to submit their financial statements in XBRL format starting in Q1 2009. One year later, all other large accelerated filers would be required to submit financials in XBRL format and one year after that, all other public company filers would follow suit.
On May 21, 2008, again during an open meeting of the SEC commissioners, there was unanimous approval for a separate proposal requiring the mandatory use of XBRL for mutual fund risk return summaries. Both the mutual fund and public company rule proposals are out for a comment period that ends on August 1, 2008.
On June 11, 2008, the SEC announced comprehensive reforms to improve transparency in the credit rating process. A central element of that proposal would require the maintenance of XBRL-formatted data for all rating actions on the rating agency’s Web site to provide easy analysis of initial ratings and ratings change information.
“As a consortium of stakeholders to the business reporting supply chain, XBRL US is in a unique position to ensure that all the needs of the marketplace are taken into consideration and that all applications work together smoothly”, said Campbell Pryde, Chief Standards Officer, XBRL US, “We look forward to bringing the expertise of our members including data intermediaries, software companies, accountants, regulators and investors into the development process to ensure the highest data quality and interoperability for consumers of information.”
About XBRL
XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) is a royalty-free, open specification for software that uses XML data tags to describe business and financial information for public and private companies and other organizations. XBRL benefits all members of the information supply chain by utilizing a standards-based method with which users can prepare, publish in a variety of formats, exchange and analyze financial statements and the information they contain. XBRL International is a non-profit consortium of approximately 550 organizations worldwide working together to build the XBRL language and promote and support its adoption. XBRL International is responsible for the technical XBRL specification and each country-specific jurisdiction works to facilitate the development and adoption of local XBRL taxonomies, or dictionaries, consistent with accounting, regulatory, and market standards and practices.
About XBRL US
XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XML business reporting standards in the United States and is a jurisdiction of XBRL International. It represents the business information supply chain, including accounting firms, software companies, financial databases, financial printers and government agencies. Its mission is to support the implementation of XML business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies relevant for use by US public and private sectors, working with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting adoption of these taxonomies through the collaboration of all business reporting supply chain participants. XBRL US has developed taxonomies to support U.S. GAAP and common reporting practices under a contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The XBRL US GAAP Taxonomies are available for review at http://xbrl.us/pages/us-gaap.aspx.
Source: XBRL US, Inc.
