While it is possible to prepare interactive XBRL data for filing on your own, it could take up to 300 hours to read the information needed to properly prepare SEC compliant XBRL documents. Developing an understanding of the rules and guidelines set forth in the US GAAP Taxonomy Preparers Guide is essential to constructing a properly formatted XBRL EDGAR filing.

XBRL is not, by nature, a human readable format; as such a class of specialized software has been developed specifically for working with the next generation of EDGAR filings. This software facilitates the construction and validation of XBRL interactive data and company codes for the creation of an SEC compliant EDGAR filing package.

The good news is that there are a number of firms standing on the cutting edge of the technology and knowledge necessary to help companies comply with the SEC’s XBRL mandate. Vintage Filings, a PR Newswire Company is one such firm who will work with you and your colleagues to set-up your tagging now and review your taxonomy – dictionary of accounting terms – to make sure it suits your reporting needs.

The SEC’s Mandate on XBRL filing has changed the way financial information is transmitted to the U.S. Government and used by investors. Initially, a subset of large U.S. based orgnizations was encouraged to submit their filings in XBRL. In year two, all other domestic and foreign filers will begin filing in XBRL format, and in year three, all remaining companies will be following suit.

Vintage Filings – Free setup of Taxonomy:

Contract Vintage Filings to tag 4 key quarterly documents and Vintage will set up your taxonomy at no extra charge.

Vinage Filings offers the following services:

• Set up your taxonomy (specific codes for financial data)
• Manage all of your tagging and filing details – no hardware or software to buy
• Prepare you well in advance so your first filing is simple and runs smoothly
• Explain the flow of information and data so you understand how easy it is to file with Vintage Filings•
• Answer any and all questions

Even if your company is not required to file XBRL until late 2009, preparing for XBRL filing now offers the ability to gain more exposure to both the analyst and investor communities.

• Tools for Instance Document Creation
• Taxonomy Creation
• XBRL Validation

In addition to the software based tools, XBRL members have provided brief descriptions of products and services. IDEA Filing Agent does not assume any responsibility for claims made in the  linked description pages.

• Allocation Systems: DataXchanger
• Clarity Systems FSR: “…a fully integrated XBRL solution that delivers SEC ready filings with mandated XBRL as a normal part of the closing process. Clarity FSR also provides a comprehensive solution to any organization’s external and internal business reporting requirements by automating the creation of the annual report, 10K, 10Q, board book, MD&A, AIF, plus any other statutory or regulatory filing…”
• CompSci Resources offers a free online demo of its iA technology. iA (or Interactive Analysis) is a web-based portal  that allows users to search, view, and analyze any data compliant with the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) standard.

Other products and services are out there, reviews to come.

• Interactive Financial Reports which can be used to view, chart and compare company financial information;
• The Mutual Fund Reader in which fund investment objectives, strategies, risks, costs and performance can be compared;
• The Financial Explorer allows users to present and visualize financial data in “innovative ways”;
• The Executive Compensation drill down tool makes it easier to find and compare executive pay and benefits at 500 large companies.

“The Mutual Fund Reader is an important, time-saving step to help investors compare various mutual funds at the click of a mouse..”  ”It will help ordinary investors use mutual fund information quickly to make the best decisions in investing for retirement, college education, health care, and other financial needs.”  – SEC Chairman Cox.

Technorati Profile

What is Interactive Data?

Interactive data means giving investors quicker access to the information they want in a form that’s easily used; helping companies prepare the information more quickly and more accurately; and helping knowledge capital keep up with financial capital, as both flow more quickly around the world. 

Today, financial information publishers offer a wealth of data about stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Unfortunately, investors who seek specific information directly from the source must often manually search lengthy corporate annual reports or lengthy mutual fund documents. Even if these documents are online, they are often digital blobs with limited search capability. Meanwhile, companies use thousands of spreadsheets and untold hours to manually convert information from their internal systems into government-prescribed formats. Whether it’s the individual investor or an employee at a financial publisher who’s poring over a company report, the need to search for and extract particular information in such documents can be time consuming.

Interactive data pinpoints the facts and figures trapped in today’s often lengthy disclosure documents, allowing investors to immediately pull out exactly the information they want, and instantly compare it to the results of other companies, performance in past years, industry averages – however the investor wishes to slice and dice the data. As more companies embrace interactive data, sophisticated analysis tools now used by financial professionals could become available to the average investor. Meanwhile, for the financial pros and financial publishers, analyzing companies could become cheaper and easier, as inputting and re-keying costs are lower and resources are freed to focus on creating better analytical tools. As with any conversion from manual to automated processes, replacing document-based reporting with data-based reporting also promises tremendous cost savings to any company that undertakes it.

http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/xbrl.shtml

The SEC’s proposed schedule would require companies using U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles with a worldwide public float over $5 billion (approximately the 500 largest companies) to make financial disclosures using interactive data formatted in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for fiscal periods ending in late 2008. If adopted, the first interactive data provided under the new rules would be made public in early 2009. The remaining companies using U.S. GAAP would provide this disclosure over the following two years. Companies using International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board would provide this disclosure for fiscal periods ending in late 2010. The disclosure would be provided as additional exhibits to annual and quarterly reports and registration statements. Companies also would be required to post this information on their websites. 

The required tagged disclosures would include companies’ primary financial statements, notes, and financial statement schedules. Initially, companies would tag notes and schedules as blocks of text, and a year later, they would provide tags for the details within the notes and schedules.

Companies filing under the proposed rule that use U.S. GAAP will use upgraded data tags issued April 28, 2008, by XBRL US, Inc. that were developed based on U.S. GAAP and on the review of hundreds of actual SEC filings. The SEC’s EDGAR system will accept test filings using a February 11 version of these tags later this month, with the final April 28 version of the tags becoming usable in June. In addition, an interim system is expected to be announced shortly that will enable companies immediately to provide interactive data submissions to the SEC using the April 28 version of the tags.

The SEC has had an interactive data pilot program for three years, beginning in 2005. It covered the financial statements of corporate filers. In addition, the SEC began an interactive data filing program for mutual fund risk return information in August 2007. Also last year, the SEC created an online database tagging executive compensation data for 500 large companies. Filers seeking a head start on data tagging are invited to formally join these SEC voluntary filing programs or informally practice with the new data tags.

More information is available at http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/xbrl.shtml

A recent Yahoo news article mentions: “Instead of investors compiling data from many types of forms and then building cumbersome spreadsheets themselves, they’re now able to simply key in data requests. Such data might involve figures drawn from corporate income statements, balance sheets or executive stock compensation plans. Idea can call up all relevant tags in order to do quick searches.”

Update: View XBRL Data Submitted in the XBRL Voluntary Program on EDGAR and see which companies are using XBRL for their filings now!

According to the SEC, IDEA will at first supplement and then eventually replace the EDGAR system, which will become an archive of SEC filings made prior to the new era of financial reporting in interactive data format. 

“IDEA” Will Make Company and Fund Information Interactive 
As Released by the SEC:

Washington, D.C., Aug. 19, 2008 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox today unveiled the successor to the agency’s 1980s-era EDGAR database, which will give investors far faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.

Currently, most SEC filings are available only in government-prescribed forms through EDGAR. Investors looking for information must sift through one form at a time, and then re-keyboard the information — a painstaking task. With IDEA, investors will be able to instantly collate information from thousands of companies and forms, and create reports and analysis on the fly, in any way they choose.

IDEA will ensure that both the SEC and the investors who rely upon the financial reporting the agency demands are ready for the new world of financial disclosure that will soon arrive when financial information is presented in interactive data format. The SEC has formally proposed requiring U.S. companies to provide financial information using interactive data beginning as early as next year, and separately has proposed requiring mutual funds to submit their public filings using interactive data.

“IDEA will ensure that the SEC continues to stay ahead of the needs of investors,” said Chairman Cox. “This new SEC resource powered by interactive data will give investors far faster, more accurate, and more meaningful information about the companies and mutual funds they own. IDEA’s launch represents a fundamental change in the way the SEC collects and publishes company and fund information — and in the way that investors will be able to use it.”

Interactive data relies on computer “tags,” similar in function to bar codes, which identify individual items in a company’s financial disclosures. With every number on an income statement or balance sheet individually labeled, information about thousands of companies contained on thousands of forms could be easily searched on the Internet, downloaded into spreadsheets, reorganized in databases, and put to any number of other comparative and analytical uses by investors, analysts, journalists, and financial intermediaries.

The ease with which interactive data will make financial information available also is expected to generate many new Web-based services and products for investors.

As he unveiled the new IDEA platform at a Washington news conference today, Chairman Cox announced that the IDEA logo will begin to appear immediately on the SEC’s Web site as the agency transitions to making IDEA the new primary source for all SEC filings. Companies’ interactive data filings are expected to be available through IDEA beginning late this year.

Investors and others who currently use EDGAR will be able to continue doing so for the indefinite future. During the transition to IDEA, investors will be able to take advantage of new interactive, IDEA-like features that will be grafted onto EDGAR in the short run. This will make it possible for investors to tap IDEA’s advanced search capabilities, and to use the information from EDGAR within spreadsheets and analytical software — something that was never possible with EDGAR. The EDGAR database also will continue to be available as an archive of company filings for past years.

“When Congress created the SEC, and even when EDGAR was launched, the markets worked on paper and by mail. Today, the marketplace works online and by e-mail,” explained disclosure and transparency expert Dr. William D. Lutz, who is leading the SEC’s 21st Century Disclosure Initiative. “Companies and investors alike compile, analyze, and produce information and reports electronically. With the move to an electronic data-based filing system, the SEC will not only keep pace with the markets, but will provide investors with a dynamic system they can use to get the information they need, rather than having to wade through an avalanche of paper forms, legalese, and doublespeak.”

David Blaszkowsky, Director of the SEC’s Office of Interactive Disclosure, added, “After 75 years of document-based static financial reporting, whether in paper documents or in electronic equivalents, it is exciting to see the SEC poised to cross the ‘data threshold’ and help investors receive financial information that is dynamic, usable and ready to go as they make their investment decisions. And when the investor wins, so does the public company, fund, or other filer who simultaneously benefits from greater transparency and trust in our markets. By tapping the power of interactive data to tear down barriers to quick and meaningful investment information, markets can become fairer and more efficient while investors can possess far better quality data than was ever possible before.”

Interactive Data Electronic Applications

Preparing for IDEA? Think IDEA Filing Agent!