We at EDGAR Online have a lot of sympathy for The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and great compassion for Chicken Little. To everyone numbed by countless stories of the “impending adoption of XBRL for financial reporting”, and to those afraid of XBRL, we would like to point out that there really was a wolf and the sky did not fall. “2008 will be a watershed year for XBRL,” says SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. Look for the top 500 to file their 2008 annual reports in XBRL.
The wolf in this case is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Here are some testimonials from company executives using interactive data (XBRL). Studies by the SEC and outside analysts show that it takes between 80 and 240 hours for a corporation to independently prepare, review, and file its first financials in XBRL. It has been our experience, at EDGAR Online, in collaboration with RR Donnelley, that over 30 corporations have been able to reduce the time commitment to less than 8 hours.
Not only is the sky not falling, you can file before sundown.
Here’s the expected SEC schedule for mandating the use of XBRL. Each completed item links to the official SEC’s or XBRL Organization’s websites. Don’t take it from the crying boy, take it from the horses’ mouths.
| X | Sept ‘07 | Industry leaders in SEC’s voluntary program to test XBRL filing have combined Market Cap of over $2 Trillion. |
| X | Sept ‘07 | All work complete on developing data tags for the entire system of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. XBRL now ready for use by all U.S. filers. |
| X | Feb ‘08 | The SEC Advisory Panel tells SEC to mandate XBRL. Recommends that the largest 500 U.S. companies must file ’08 results in XBRL; all companies to compy within three years. SEC asks for public comment. |
| April ‘08 | The SEC is expected to issue its preliminary ruling in favor of the recommendations. | |
| Sept ‘08 | Expected final SEC ruling | |
| 1st Quarter ‘09 | Top 500 companies by Market Cap expected to file their 2008 annual reports in XBRL. |
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