XBRL US submitted a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in anticipation of the SEC's rule proposal on municipal bond issuance as part of the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) implementation. This letter is a follow-up to our comments submitted in the initial FDTA comment period on October 21, 2024. This response specifically addresses objections raised by municipal bond issuers in their own FDTA comments. 127 comments were submitted with issues raised concerning cost, lack of market feedback, and skepticism over the usefulness and feasibility of data standards implementation for the government marketplace. Our responses pointed out that:
- Costs for some reporting tools may be as low as free for open source tools to $1000-$1500, and that the cost of obtaining an LEI can be as low as $39 per year. Disclosure management tools which are often cited as the "cost of structured data preparation" have higher price points but include sophisticated features to manage data processing and reporting far beyond standards formatting.
- The conversation on digital data standards for governments is not new and was considered as early as 2009.
- Although financial statements for general purpose and special districts governments vary, there are certain commonalities across statements, and pilots have been conducted to demonstrate that standards can be created.
Read the letter:XBRL US Response to FDTA RE Municipal Disclosures
