
For IROs, XBRL errors a wake-up call
WITH financial data providers increasingly using XBRL filings in the numbers they deliver to Wall Street, poor corporate reporting controls are threatening company reputations and raising the specter of investors making trading decisions based on faulty figures.
SEC calls meeting for final XBRL rule
THE US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will meet on December 17 to decide whether to make eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) mandatory for public company financial statement information. The move has been widely anticipated following the publication of a rule proposal in May. It was thought by some in the XBRL community that the [...]

Software firm "dumbfounded" by SEC's use of its IDEA trademark
UPDATE: SEC spokesman John Heine sent me three emails in response to this article along with additional materials related to the SEC’s own trademark application. A US Patent and Trademark Office document (PDF 228 KB, 12 pages) forwarded to me by Heine says: “The Office records have been searched and there are no similar registered [...]
Ex-SEC leaders challenge Cox's interactive data initiative
TWO influential US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alumni have raised concerns that broadening the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to non-financial information will increase disclosure costs, raise difficult legal liability issues, and create burdens on companies that are “formidable in the extreme.” Former SEC commissioner and Stanford Law School professor Joseph Grundfest, [...]
As XBRL mandate looms, SEC seeks urgent help with software
AS THE US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers new rules to require companies to begin filing their documents in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), it has been having trouble finding software experts who can help make those filings usable to investors. The commission put out a pressing call in June for contractors to help [...]
Cox to announce IDEA will replace EDGAR
YESTERDAY afternoon, a number of bloggers got an email inviting them to a press conference webcast today with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Chris Cox where he is supposed to unveil a “futuristic information disclosure system for investors and markets.” No further details on this new system were provided, but at least one [...]
SEC posts text of proposed XBRL rule
JUST in time for the weekend, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today posted the full text of the proposed rules for mandatory XBRL filings for domestic and foreign public companies. The proposed rules (embedded below) apply to domestic and foreign public companies that prepare their financial statements according to U.S. GAAP, and foreign [...]