（2006）Second-Wave Benefits of XBRL.pdfVIP

XBRL Second-Wave Benefits of XBRL B Y B R I A N L . M C G U I R E , C M A , C P A ; S C O T T J . O K E S S O N ; A N D L I V A . W A T S O N U.S. and international corporations are still in the early Because of this standardization, any company’s report can stages of implementing eXtensible Business Reporting be imported and analyzed using any XBRL-enabled tool. Language (XBRL) as a common computer language for A wide selection of tools will soon be available because reporting, exchanging, and analyzing financial and busi- XBRL data is based on open-source XML (Extensible ness reporting data. At present, many reports are pro- Markup Language) technology and is independent of duced electronically but in a format (plain text or platforms. HTML) unsuitable for automated data extraction. Down- stream users of these reports are stuck with a great deal of FIRST-WAVE XBRL manual work selecting, extracting, and arranging data for Although XBRL is broadly hailed as revolutionary, its their own proprietary systems. When XBRL is fully adoption has been more evolutionary in its incremental implemented, this manual effort will be eliminated. standards development and almost stationary in its XBRL data is tagged with standardized descriptions implementation. A handful of companies are publishing and data formats, which permit automated import, classi- XBRL data, but most are watching from the sidelines. fication, and analysis of the data across industries and, There’s more movement internationally, but it’s hardly eventually, nationalities and accounting regimes. The “X” developing at a vigorous pace of adoption. in XBRL stands