Washington, D.C., October 3, 2004 – LAWFUEL – Best law news, SEC, attorney, law firm news As part of its initiative to assess the
benefits of tagged data and its potential for improving the timeliness,
accuracy and analysis of financial disclosure in Commission filings, the
Securities and Exchange Commission issued a proposing release today to
establish a voluntary program allowing registrants to file supplemental
financial information using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).
Registrants would be able to voluntarily furnish XBRL data in an exhibit to
specified EDGAR filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Investment Company Act of 1940. This program would begin with the 2004
calendar year-end reporting season. The proposal will be open for public
comment for a 30 day period following its publication in the Federal
Register.
The Commission also issued a concept release today seeking public comment
on:
* the benefits of tagging data to improve reporting
quality and efficiency;
* the implications of tagging data for filers, investors,
the Commission and other market participants; and
* the adequacy and efficacy of XBRL as a format for
reporting financial information.
Comments on the concept release should be submitted to the Commission within
45 days of its publication in the Federal Register.
Data tagging is gaining prominence as a format for enhancing financial
reporting data using eXtensible Mark-Up Language (XML) derivatives, such as
XBRL. Tagging provides greater context to data through standard definitions
that turn text-based information, such as the filings currently contained in
the Commission’s EDGAR system, into documents that can be retrieved,
searched and analyzed through automated means. Data tags describe
information such as items included in financial statements. This enables
investors and other marketplace participants to analyze data from different
sources and allows for the automatic exchange of financial information
across various software platforms, including web services.
