XBRL

Learn More XBRL Articles of Interest & Useful Tools CAQ XBRL Resources

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is set to revolutionize business reporting around the world. The Center for Audit Quality (Center or CAQ) has developed a section on our Web site to include information about the XBRL initiative. The Center encourages our member firms to learn more about XBRL in order to understand how to obtain more rapid and reliable data on a company's financial performance; greatly reduce effort and costs in gathering and analyzing data for benchmarking purposes; focus efforts on analysis and value-added work and to simplify and automate tasks.

The SEC has embraced XBRL by proposing and adopting a final rule on an XBRL Voluntary Program. This program will allow registrants to submit voluntarily supplemental tagged financial information using the XBRL format as exhibits to specified EDGAR filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. In addition, the PCAOB has issued guidance for auditors on how to audit these voluntary filings.

XBRL-US To Become Independent Organization (September 2006)

Learn More About XBRL:

• XBRL Official Web site – Learn specific facts; obtain press releases, announcements and news articles; obtain technical guidance, education and training; and review an XBRL project showcase where you will have the ability to research XBRL with information from real life use cases. The showcase features a suite of XBRL demonstrations, pilots, proofs of concept and implementations, white papers, presentations and other resources can also be found in the showcase.
  
  
• View Letter from the President of XBRL-International and the Former Chair of XBRL-US Steering Committee to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  
  
• AICPA Signs Marketing Arrangement to Promote Rivet Software's Dragon Tag and Dragon View XBRL Options
  
  
  • Increase Your Knowledge of XBRL—Take Advantage of the CAQ Discount on Rivet's XBRL Applications
    
    
• View the Testimony of Barry Melancon, President and CEO, AICPA, Before the Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Concerning Fostering Accuracy and Transparency in Financial Reporting  (March 29, 2006)
  
  
• XBRL exhibit Transforming Business Reporting – View information regarding what XBRL is designed for, as well as today’s problems without XBRL and tomorrow’s benefits with XBRL.

XBRL Taxonomies - Requests for Public Comment

• SEC Chairman Cox Announces Landmark Progress in Providing Instant, User-Friendly Access to Financial Reporting Information for Investors (September 2007)
  
  
• SEC Releases Source Code for Interactive Data Viewer for Free Use by the Market (September 2007)
  
  
• Market Cap of 'Interactive Data' Filers Tops $2 Trillion (September 2007)
  
  
• SEC Spotlight On: Tagged Data and XBRL Initiatives

SEC Interactive Data Roundtables:

• SEC Hosts 3rd Interactive Data Roundtable: Creating Interactive Data to Serve Investors - CAQ Summary (March 2007)
  
  
• SEC Hosts 2nd Interactive Data Roundtable: New Software to Make Better Information a Reality - CPCAF Summary (October 2006)
  
  
• SEC Hosts 1st Interactive Data Roundtable - CPCAF Summary (June 2006)
  

SEC XBRL Voluntary Filing Program Developments:

• XBRL Voluntary Program Questionnaire — questionnaire on the use of interactive data for companies that have participated in the XBRL Voluntary Program

• The SEC XBRL Voluntary Filing Program—Learn which companies have voluntarily reported financial information on EDGAR using XBRL and see what these filings look like
  
  E-mail xbrlprogram@sec.gov—Your clients who have taken advantage of the XBRL Voluntary Program can submit comments directly to the SEC by clicking on this respective link

• Extension of Interactive Data Voluntary Reporting Program on the Edgar System to Include Mutual Fund Risk/Return Summary Information (February 2007)
  
  
• SEC Announces Companies that Joined the XBRL Interactive Data Test Group (March 2006)
  
  
• SEC Extends Deadline for Companies to Join XBRL Interactive Data Test Group (February 2006)
  
  
• SEC Offers Incentives for Companies to File Financial Reports as Part of the XBRL Voluntary Filing Program (January 2006)
  
  
• SEC Delay of XBRL Voluntary Filing Program (March 2005)
  
  
• SEC Press Release—Establishment of the XBRL Voluntary Program (February 2005)
  
  
• SEC Final Rule on XBRL Voluntary Financial Reporting Program on the EDGAR System (February 2005)
  
  

SEC XBRL Software Developments:

• SEC Releases Source Code for Interactive Data Viewer for Free Use by the Market (September 2007)

• License Agreement for Use of Interactive Financial Report Viewer Source Code

• Market Cap of 'Interactive Data' Filers Tops $2 Trillion (September 2007)

• SEC Chairman Cox Announces Landmark Progress in Providing Instant, User-Friendly Access to Financial Reporting Information for Investors (September 2007)

• SEC to Rebuild Public Disclosure System to Make it "Interactive" (September 2006) – The SEC awarded three separate contracts that will transform the EDGAR vintage public company disclosure system from a form-based electronic filing cabinet to a dynamic real-time search tool with interactive capabilities.
  
• SEC Issues Formal Proposal for the Development of XBRL Web-based Analysis Software to Help Investors (August 2006)
  

Other SEC Initiatives or Guidance Related to XBRL:

• Chairman Cox, Overseas Counterparts Meet to Discuss Interactive Data Timetable (November 2007)

• SEC Announces New Unit to Lead Global Move to Interactive Data (October 2007)

• Remarks for Financial Reporting Through XBRL Panel Discussion at FDIC Accounting Conference by James Freeman, Investor Advocate, SEC Office of Investor Education and Assistance, Arlington, Virginia (May 2007)
  

• Remarks at the 15th International XBRL Conference SEC Commissioner Kathleen L. Casey, Munich, Germany (June 2007)
  

• SEC's Annual Small Business Forum to Focus on Interactive Data and Capital Formation  (September 2006)
  
• SEC Chairman, Christopher Cox, Remarks at 12th XBRL International Conference (text only). Also available in a video presentation at Windows Media Streaming or Windows Media Player (November 2005)
  
  
• SEC FAQS on XBRL (March 2005)
  

PCAOB Interpretative Guidance and Press Releases

• PCAOB Press Release—Board releases guidance for attest engagements regarding XBRL (May 2005)
  
  
• PCAOB FAQs on XBRL (May 2005)

Other XBRL News :

SEC's Office of Interactive Disclosure Urges Public to Comment
From: SEC | December 5, 2007
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Interactive Disclosure today heralded the release for public comment of computer labels that will help companies make their financial disclosure… read the press release

U.S. SEC's Cox says XBRL project 'at full gallop'
From: Reuters | December 3, 2007
The U.S. adoption of a machine-readable computer language for financial statements is progressing "at full gallop," helped by a pilot program of volunteer companies, the head of the U.S. Securities…read the article

Another (Small) Step for XBRL
From: CFO.com | October 22, 2007
CFOs may not be able to avoid the topic of XBRL for much longer. A new and more comprehensive version of the data tags that turn financial statements into "interactive data" has been completed and goes into market-testing this month. XBRL-US, the nonprofit organization hired by the Securities and Exchange Commission to develop… read the article