Offers filer training to help public companies understand the taxonomies and meet SEC compliance
XBRL US announced today that it released and posted the digital dictionary for US GAAP reporting which has been accepted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The 2009 release includes hundreds of accounting and industry-specific revisions to the 2008 release.
XBRL US will provide tools to help companies work with the new taxonomies and comply with SEC requirements:
- SEC Filer Training programs instructed by the same experts that developed the US GAAP Taxonomies: http://xbrl.us/events/Pages/Training.aspx
- A software tools and services matrix: http://xbrl.us/101/Pages/ToolsAndServices.aspx
- Free educational webinars to help companies get started: http://xbrl.us/events/Pages/current.aspx
The SEC mandated XBRL for public company reporting which will be phased in over two years. The largest public companies, those with a worldwide public float of $5 billion or higher must comply with the mandate starting with their June 15, 2009 quarter, a group of approximately 500 companies. All other large accelerated filers must comply starting with their June 15, 2010 fiscal quarter and all other publicly traded companies and foreign private issuers will be required to comply starting with their June 15, 2011 fiscal quarter.
“XBRL US has made a significant investment in development to ensure that new FASB pronouncements and industry standard changes are accurately reflected, and that preparers have resources for compliance. Public companies have been eagerly awaiting the updated taxonomies so that they will have the means to incorporate these changes into their XBRL-formatted financial statements in time for the SEC mandate,” said Michael Schlanger, Senior Vice President, Merrill Corporation and member of the XBRL US Board of Directors. Merrill Corporation is a leading financial printer that offers XBRL preparation services.
FASB pronouncements incorporated since the 2008 release include:
- FAS No. 141 (R) – Business Combinations
- FAS No. 160 – Non-controlling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements an amendment of ARB No. 51
- FAS No. 161 – Disclosures about Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities an amendment of FASB Statement No. 133
- FAS No. 163 – Accounting for Financial Guarantee Insurance Contracts, an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 60
“This first annual update evolves with accounting and industry changes and will improve comparability of public company data from year to year, from company to company,” said Campbell Pryde, Chief Standards Officer, XBRL US.
XBRL US is responsible for maintaining the US GAAP Taxonomies under contract with the SEC. The taxonomies can be viewed and downloaded at http://xbrl.us/Pages/US-GAAP.aspx.
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 US GAAP and common reporting practices, the Risk Return Summary in mutual fund prospectuses and the Schedule of Investments under contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Taxonomies can be found at http://xbrl.us/taxonomies.
CONTACT: Michelle Savage, Vice President, Communication, XBRL US, Inc., +1-917-747-1714, michelle.savage@xbrl.us
