March 2017 Newsletter

During an SEC open meeting on March 1, the Commission unanimously voted to approve a rule proposal that would require the use of inline XBRL for public company filing, subject to a phased approach. The proposal will be out for a 60-day comment period.

Read opening remarks: https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/opening-statement-on-inline-xbrl-filing-of-tagged-data.html
Read the rule proposal: https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2017/33-10323.pdf

During the March 1 SEC open meeting, the Commission announced that the IFRS Taxonomy has been approved and posted to the SEC web site. The Commission further clarified that companies that file in IFRS can now immediately use the approved taxonomy. They also noted that these companies will be required to do so with their first annual report on Form 20-F or 40-F for a fiscal period ending on or after December 15, 2017.

Read the rule: https://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2017/33-10320.pdf

XBRL US expressed their support for the SEC announcements on Inline XBRL and the IFRS Taxonomy. Campbell Pryde, CEO of XBRL US, noted: “Switching to a single Inline XBRL document will reduce the burden on companies that today file two separate documents each quarter. These new arrangements will produce a single file that provides greater value to the investment community than traditional HTML files, as standardized data can be automatically consumed, saving time and improving efficiency.”

Read the release: https://xbrl.us/news/news20170302/

Attend this one-hour webinar to see a demo featuring The Hartford consuming XBRL-formatted financial reports automatically into their internal financial systems. You’ll also watch a demonstration of how contractors can create XBRL-formatted financials easily and efficiently. Sureties no longer need to manually rekey data. Contractors have faster, more efficient access to credit. Agents can more easily facilitate the process.

Register: https://xbrl.us/events/20170329/

Jon Previtali, VP, Environmental Finance Group, Wells Fargo and Michelle Savage, VP, XBRL US, compare the heavily paper-driven solar financing process to the grocery business before UPC codes were used to standardize and automate data collection. Just like a grocery store chain, a solar portfolio generates an enormous amount of data. Standards can automate a manual process in the solar industry, eliminate huge volumes of paper, and reduce the cost of data collection.

Read the post: https://xbrl.us/solar-industry-grocery-business/

• Ready to Trade in your Flip Phone?
  Julie Valpey, Chair, XBRL US Communications Steering Committee; Partner, National SEC Department, BDO – https://xbrl.us/flip-phone/
• Three New Year’s Resolutions for Public Company Filers
  Mike Starr, Chair of the XBRL US Data Quality Committee; Vice President, Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, Workiva – https://xbrl.us/resolutions/

The program to build solar financing data standards to reduce soft costs in solar installations enters the second program year with significant progress made on taxonomy development and industry outreach. The Finance Working Group, managed by XBRL US, will hold its next monthly conference call on March 6 at 10:30 PT and all are encouraged to participate. To sign up to participate, email dylan@sunspec.org.

Thomson Reuters shares their experiences on how institutions, both buy-side and sell-side, use corporate financial statement data and how the advent of structured (XBRL) data has changed the data collection and analytical process. Hear how investor clients use XBRL data and how they handle data quality issues they find.

Watch the replay: https://xbrl.us/events/20170223/

Upcoming speaking engagements:

• Scaling Up Solar Finance: Standards To Reduce Soft Costs and Expand The Market
  SunSpec Alliance 2017 Annual Meeting – March 30, San Francisco, CA
• Surety Innovation Center
  National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) Annual Meeting – April 24, Boca Raton, FL

Recent events:

• Big Data: Little Orange Button
  Solar Power Asset Management and Performance Conference – January 19-20, San Diego, CA

The next Data Quality Committee (DQC) meeting will be held on April 19.

To register: https://xbrl.us/events/dqc-20170419/

• The Domain Steering Committee meeting will be Thursday, March 16 at 4 PM ET.
• The Communications Steering Committee meeting will be Wednesday, March 8 at 10 AM ET.

XBRL US Members are invited to attend and get involved. Email membership@xbrl.us for details.