June 2015 Newsletter

On May 20, the SEC published a rule proposal: Investment Company Reporting Modernization, which would change investment company reporting requirements and would require information reported in structured data format. The proposal will be out for a 60 day public comment period starting on the date it is posted to the Federal Register.

Press release: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-95.html
Full rule: https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2015/33-9776.pdf

This bill would require members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to use data standards for information that each member agency collects from financial and business entities. FSOC members are Treasury, the SEC, Federal Reserve, OCC, CFTC, NCUA, FDIC, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

News release http://issa.house.gov/press-releases/2015/03/issa-announces-madoff-transparency-act-to-modernize-financial-reporting

Congressman Keith Ellison introduced two potential amendments to H.R. 1965 during a May 20 markup session. While the amendments (one that would require Inline XBRL and one that would limit the exemption to Emerging Growth Companies) were rejected, opposition to the bill as introduced, has clearly been registered. H.R. 1965 was introduced by Congressman Robert Hurt in late April containing language identical to the previously introduced legislation H.R. 4164 and Title VII of H.R. 37.

Watch May 20 markup session: http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=399100
Watch April 29 hearing and read written testimony related to H.R. 1965: http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=398911

Contact info@xbrl.us to help with efforts to prevent this bill from becoming law.

The proposed rule, announced April 29, would require the disclosure of executive pay and performance data for companies and their peers with all data tagged in XBRL format. Companies would be required to disclose data for the last five fiscal years, except smaller reporting companies, which would only be required to provide the last three fiscal years. Requirements would be phased in over time.

News release and fact sheet: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-78.html

Public addresses given recently by SEC staff demonstrate signficant support forXBRL in corporate reporting. In a February talk given at the “SEC Speaks” conference, Commissioner Kara Stein said XBRL was a “globally accepted standard(s)…” and an “important protocol for establishing a baseline for the collection and analysis of data”.At the same event, the SEC’s Investor Advocate Rick Fleming said that the proposed legislation calling for an XBRL exemption for small companies “would seriously impede the ability of the SEC to bring disclosure into the 21st Century.” Fleming went further in his remarks at a Data Transparency Coalition event in March, stating “The three-part mission of the SEC is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. In my view, better use of structured data would help the SEC achieve all three goals.”Commissioner Stein’s remarks, 2/20/15: http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/022015-spchckms.htmla
Investor Advocate Fleming’s remarks, 2/20/15: http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/022015-spchraf.html; and at Data Transparency Coalition, 3/24/15: http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/032415-spch-rf.html

In lieu of an XBRL US National Conference this year, regional workshops are being conducted to maximize the availability of the program nationally and increase access to XBRL experts from Deloitte, E&Y, the FASB, KPMG and PwC for SEC reporting professionals. The first 1 ½ day workshop in NY got positive reviews: “Very professional, pragmatic with good use of experts from their field.” – Eamon Moore

Visit http://xbrl.us/workshop to review the May agenda, share ideas for what topics you’re interested in and sign up for early information of Fall workshops.

This month, a redesigned XBRL US web site debuted, which reflects XBRL International’s recently adopted branding. Much of the site’s content has been rewritten and restructured to feature topical browsing for visitors interested in SEC Reporting, Corporate Actions, Government and Industry and Using Data. Our thanks to XBRL US Members involved in the process. We look forward to continuing to expand features and functionality in the coming months ? drop us a note at info@xbrl.us if you’ve got specific interests or ideas about content that would be right for our audiences.

Visit http://xbrl.us

Corporate XBRL data is used by public companies, investors, analysts, regulators and auditors. This new page features use cases like BDO?s use of XBRL to prepare comparable projections in client evaluations; analyses on discounted cash flow and concentration risk; and use of XBRL on corporate web sites for investor relations. Additional entries are welcome, email info@xbrl.us with suggestions.

Read more: http://xbrl.us/use

The XBRL International Corporate Actions Working Group, which launched in June 2014, has expanded to 23 members with newcomers PIMCO, BNY Mellon and the Indonesian Stock Exchange actively contributing. The initial work of the group has been to focus on identifying requirements from non-US stock markets and securities authorities, including Israel, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and Indonesia.

Learn more: https://www.xbrl.org/the-consortium/get-involved/corporate-actions-working-group/

This year, XBRL International will hold its conference at the Scandic Copenhagen and will be covering important topics such as CRD IV, Solvency II and Standard Business Reporting.

Learn more: http://conference.xbrl.org