SEC Mandates Use of XBRL

Submitted by Melissa Hoffmann on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 16:34

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 4-1 to require 500 of the largest public companies to begin filing financial reports using the technology known as Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) by mid-2009, Reuters reported. The rest of the companies will be phased in over a two-year period, the SEC said.

The move will allow investors, securities analysts and financial journalists to sort quickly and compare financial and other data across companies and mutual funds, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The NYSSCPA supports the SEC’s efforts to provide interactive data that will be useful to investors and analysts and submitted a July comment letter to the SEC on the issue. The NYSSCPA believes that all filers should eventually be required to provide their financial statements and related footnotes and schedules in XBRL, with certain exceptions for small businesses. In addition, the Society believes that voluntary adoption may not achieve desired objectives in a reasonable timeframe.

The December 2007 issue of The CPA Journal discusses capabilities and limitations of XBRL.
 

Bookmark/Search this post with:

The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) encourages you to add a comment to this discussion.  You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law.  Please note that NYSSCPA reviews all comments prior to posting. NYSSCPA may edit comments for clarity or to keep out questionable or off-topic material.  All comments should be relevant to the post and remain respectful of other authors. To view the full “NYSSCPA Blog Terms and Conditions,” click here.