April 2016 Newsletter

As part of its ongoing process to monitor registrant compliance with the requirements to report their financial information in their eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) exhibits, staff in the SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis recently assessed the use of custom axis tags in XBRL exhibits that reporting companies submitted with their annual reports on Form 10-K.

Read staff observations: https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/reportspubs/osd_assessment_custom-axis-tags.html

On April 27, the FASB published a new video on the US GAAP Taxonomy: Why It’s Important. Members of the FASB XBRL Team provide context around key aspects of the GAAP Taxonomy.

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WitwUAsK3s

A free half-day forum for financial technologists, investors, analysts, regulators, investor relations professionals and data providers, Crowdfunding & Data Standards is designed to provide an introduction to crowdfunding, the practice of funding a company or initiative by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, through Internet-based funding portals. Speakers include BankRoll, Computershare, Crowdnetic, FINRA, FundAmerica, Markit and the SEC.

Learn more and register: https://xbrl.us/news/crowdfunding-20160425/

On April 14, 2016, XBRL US submitted a comment letter to the SEC responding to their Concept Release on Transfer Agent Regulations which proposes expanding financial disclosures made by transfer agents and requests input on the use of standards in corporate actions processing. Key recommendations include:

• Requiring the use of inline XBRL for additional financial disclosures made by transfer agents
• Adopting the XBRL standard for corporate actions processing to improve timeliness, accuracy and to reduce interpretation risks and costs

Comment letter:
https://xbrl.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/XBRL-US-Ltr-RE-SEC-Transfer-Agent-Regulations-File-Number-S7-27-15.pdf

Certification proves that the five applications have successfully incorporated the initial set of validation rules developed by its Data Quality Committee (DQC) in their software applications for preparing filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) . XBRL US has tested these software applications to confirm that the applications incorporate the current, complete set of DQC validation rules and produce the expected results. XBRL US will update the certifications for each new set of rules produced by the DQC.

Read the release about the certification: https://xbrl.us/news/160412/
See the list of certified tools: https://xbrl.us/certification/

Over 175 people attended an education forum on emerging financial technologies that are changing the structure of the capital markets on April 4 in New York, with speakers from CFA Institute, Consensys, ItBit, Markit, Nasdaq and Safeguard Scientifics.

Selected presentations are available at: https://xbrl.us/events/blockchain-20160404/

As a follow-up to the successful in-person forum on Blockchain, XBRL US is hosting a series of free webinars that help educate and inform on these new technologies that are changing the structure of the financial markets. Learn more and register for the programs here:

• Blockchain 101, April 28 at 3PM ET; speaker Christian Lundkvist, Cryptofinancial Engineer / Decentralization Generalist, Consensys
  

  Register https://xbrl.us/events/fintech-webinar-blockchainsmart-contract-101/

• Smart Contracts & Data Standards, May 11 at 3PM ET; speakers Jeff Billingham, VP, Markit and Seth Philips, Bankchain Product Manager, itBit
  

  Register https://xbrl.us/events/fintech-webinar-smart-contracts-and-data-standards/

• The Landscape for Blockchain Technology, June 8 at 3PM ET; speaker Campbell Pryde, President and CEO, XBRL US
  

  Register https://xbrl.us/events/fintech-webinar-the-landscape-for-blockchain-technology/

At this meeting, industry leaders will participate in discussions and plans for developing guidance and rules for use by public companies complying with the XBRL requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. All are invited to attend this upcoming meeting as online observers.

Register as an online observer: https://xbrl.us/events/cdq-20160517/

Mike Schlanger, an XBRL industry leader and member of the XBRL US Board of Directors since 2009, has been elected to serve as Vice Chairman of the XBRL US Board. His appointment is effective immediately.

Read the release: https://www.merrillcorp.com/pressreleases/02-24-16-merrill-corp-mike-schlanger-elected-vice-chairman

Member volunteers are the driving force helping to set the strategic direction of the organization. Chaired by Julie Valpey, Partner, National SEC Department at BDO, the Communications & Services Steering Committee is focused on:

• Identifying new consumers of XBRL data
• Establishing proof of XBRL benefits

Scott Theis, President and CEO of Novaworks Software has been selected as Chair of the Domain Steering Committee, which will focus on:

• Metrics of properly structured taxonomy
• Taxonomy approval process
• Taxonomy Development Toolkit

The Committees meet monthly and are open to all XBRL US Members. Learn more about meeting times, member involvement and the workstreams at: https://xbrl.us/steering-committees

Read the newsletter: https://xbrl.us/news/calcbench-20160405/

Join Certent for a 30 minute demonstration on the Certent Disclosure Management platform. Certent staff will discuss how they can help you collaborate, communicate and connect – streamlining your financial reporting process.

Dates: June 16 at 1:30PM ET | September 1 at 2PM ET | December 8 at 2PM ET

Register for any/all from the link at: https://xbrl.us/events/certent-20160616/

XBRL International announced plans to hold a 3-day conference emphasizing emerging technologies and data standards at the Shangri-La hotel in Singapore.

Learn more: https://www.xbrl.org/events/save-the-date-2016-xbrl-international-conference/