At least 2/3 of companies in first phase of SEC rule have already created XBRL-formatted financials
WASHINGTON, May 7 /PRNewswire/ — At least 340 of the estimated 500 public companies that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires to begin filing in XBRL format in June 2009, have already converted their financial statements to XBRL. The survey of leading filing agents was conducted by XBRL US, the non-profit XML standard setter that developed and maintains the US GAAP dictionary (taxonomy) used by filers to comply with the SEC mandate.
The SEC’s mandate of public company reporting in XBRL will be phased in over two years with the largest public companies, those with a worldwide public float of $5 billion or higher, required to comply with the mandate starting with their June 15, 2009 quarter, a group estimated at 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.
“These XBRL financial statements represent almost $7 trillion in market capitalization, over 50% of the total market cap for all publicly traded companies reporting to the SEC. We’re at critical mass and looking forward to extending investor benefits to other asset classes in the future,” said Alfred R. Berkeley, Chairman, Pipeline Financial Systems LLC and Chair, XBRL US Board.
XBRL US finalized and released the 2009 version of the US GAAP Taxonomy on April 21, 2009. This current release incorporates industry changes and new FASB pronouncements and is being used by public companies preparing their financial statements in XBRL to comply with the SEC mandate. XBRL US is also responsible for developing XBRL tags for mutual fund risk/return summary portion of prospectuses and the schedule of investments. These tags are all part of a single, unified and interoperable taxonomy. The taxonomy can be reviewed at http://xbrl.us/taxonomies/Pages/default.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 U.S. 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/Pages/default.aspx.
Source: XBRL US, Inc.
Contact:
Michelle Savage, Vice President, Communication
917-747-1714
michelle.savage@xbrl.us
Links:
www.xbrl.us
XBRL US Taxonomies: http://xbrl.us/taxonomies/Pages/default.aspx
