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XBRL financial reporting faces hurdles
Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:00pm EDT
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By Robert MacMillan - Analysis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The introduction of a computer code to financial reports was supposed to transform the way investors' could analyze the data. The reality is proving to be a little less exciting.
This summer, the biggest U.S. companies will have to start using the language, awkwardly named XBRL, in some of their financial filings, thanks to an almost obsessive drive by former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to launch it.
XBRL stands for Extensible Business Reporting Language. It provides uniform and new ways for investors, regulators, journalists and others to read, parse and analyze complex company data more quickly.
The system has been years in the making, and could reveal numbers or trading ideas that might not have been available before so quickly.
"You never know what new information means in the hands of an innovative analyst or trader," said David Blaszkowsky, director of the SEC's Office of Interactive Disclosure.
Nearly a decade ago, experts said XBRL would "revolutionize" financial reporting and bring visibility, consistency and transparency to often confusing financial statements. That may be, but it will take a few more years.
As of early May, 340 of the 500 largest U.S. companies were ready to start filing quarterly and annual reports using XBRL, according to a study released by nonprofit group XBRL US Inc. Many other companies do not have to begin filing until 2011.
While the SEC believes that most of the big ones are ready, it will not know for sure until companies file their quarterly reports, Blaszkowsky said.
Companies worth $5 billion or more in the public markets had to be compliant by June 15. This time, they will get a 30-day grace period, Blaszkowsky said.
Federal officials and the language's supporters say they are confident that the big companies are ready. Others say that they might submit error-ridden documents because they have not adequately prepared.
Others said the rules, while meant to aid investors, might do little for people like algorithmic traders who program computers to react to data and make trades in fractions of a second.
"It is important for analysts creating models," said Jamie Selway, managing director of institutional broker White Cap Trading. "It wouldn't obviously be for news and such."
Developing deep thoughts about a company's or business sector's prospects is a more leisurely job than trying to make millions of dollars of profit during the trading day.
XBRL is better suited to the former activity, said Rodney Nelsestuen, senior research director for financial strategies and IT investments at TowerGroup. "It's not going to be in the heat of the moment right away," he said.
One way to change that would be requiring corporate press releases to carry XBRL-coded data, but the government has no plans to do that and will not discuss future rule-making plans, Blaszkowsky said. Continued...
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