XBRL US Establishes Best Practice Committee as Part of Data Quality Focus

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- XBRL US, the national consortium for XML business reporting standards, announced today the creation of a 16-member Best Practice Committee as part of XBRL US' focus on data quality, an initiative that seeks to establish standards around the use of XBRL for specific reporting domains to enable greater consistency and accuracy in XBRL data.  The committee is charged with identifying and reaching agreement on best practices in the creation of XBRL-formatted financial statements from public companies reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"The Best Practice Committee brings together some of the top experts in financial reporting and XBRL creation," said Campbell Pryde, Chief Standards Officer, XBRL US.  "XBRL is ideally suited to enable better quality data when the approach to creation is consistent.  This new committee will collaborate on guidance that will help companies create the most comparable, best quality corporate information."

To date, over 1,440 companies have submitted more than 3,400 XBRL exhibits to comply with the SEC's mandate which started in June 2009.  By June 2011, every public company will be required to report financial statement information in XBRL format.  Through analysis of these submissions, the Best Practice Committee has established guidance on specific topics including concepts used for shares issued and outstanding, accrual items in cash flow statements and the use of units and segment tables.  Published guidance from the committee should be considered by public company preparers in their XBRL preparation process (http://xbrl.us/Learn/Pages/BestPractices.aspx).

Elmer Huh, Director, Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC – Financial Advisory and Investment Banking, a member of the committee said, "The kind of guidance the Best Practice Committee provides will help ensure we truly capitalize on XBRL's capabilities. As a consumer of data, I've always believed in the opportunity with XBRL; now I'm ready to see it put into practice and recognize the full benefits."  

Composition of the committee reflects the financial reporting supply chain:

• Rob Blake, Senior Director, Interactive Services, Bowne & Co., Inc.
• Ali Paksima, CPA, XBRL Accounting Manager, Business Wire
• Todd Castagno, Analyst, Morgan Stanley
• Eric E. Cohen, XBRL Global Technical Leader, PwC
• Al Chen, North Carolina State University
• Elmer Huh, Director, Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC – Financial Advisory and Investment Banking  
• Makoto Koizumi, Senior Consultant, Fujitsu Research Institute
• Louis Matherne, Chief of Taxonomy Development, FASB
• Yossef Newman, Audit Director and global program leader for XBRL, Deloitte
• Kimberly Patterson – Manager Financial Accounting & IFRS – United Technologies Corporation
• Campbell Pryde, Chief Standards Officer, XBRL US
• Karyn Rudnick, Senior XBRL Technical Analyst, Merrill Corporation
• Mark Schnitzer, Principal Architect, Microsoft Corporation
• Paul Sappington, Chief Software Officer and Vice President, Edgar-Online
• Matthew F. Slavin, Associate Director, Professional Practice – Auditing, Ernst & Young LLP
• Hongwei Zhu, Old Dominion University

"Establishing rules on how to use XBRL for US GAAP reporting is critical," said Louis Matherne, Chief of Taxonomy Development, FASB. "With a taxonomy as large as this one, financial managers have a lot of decisions to make and a standards organization like XBRL US is the right one to bring together the right players."

"Developing clear, useable taxonomies and collaboratively building guidelines is critical to establishing workable market standards.  Building the US GAAP Taxonomy was a significant achievement and supporting it with proper tools and guidance will be an ongoing responsibility that the FAF, as accounting standard setter, and XBRL US, as XML standard setter, are well-qualified to tackle," said Mike Willis, Partner, PwC and Chairman, XBRL International.

The Best Practice Committee meets monthly and has produced its first periodic report (http://xbrl.us/Learn/Pages/BestPractices.aspx) addressing specific issues.  To submit suggestions to the committee regarding issues identified in XBRL filings, email [email protected].  Findings and guidance established by the Committee will be made freely available to the public and will be incorporated into the XBRL Consistency Checks.  To learn more about XBRL Consistency Checks, go to http://xbrl.us/csuite.

About XBRL US

XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XML business reporting standards in the U.S. and it represents the business information supply chain.  Its mission is to support the implementation of XML business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies for use by U.S. public and private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting XBRL adoption through marketplace collaboration.  XBRL US has developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP, credit rating and mutual fund reporting under contract with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. XBRL US Labs, the research and development arm of XBRL US, leverages the XBRL US platform, methodologies and people to address the quality of taxonomies and the harmonization of XBRL with other XML standards. For more information, go to www.xbrl.us.

Links:

XBRL Consistency Suite:  http://xbrl.us

XBRL US Best Practice Committee Findings:  http://xbrl.us/Learn/Pages/BestPractices.aspx

SOURCE XBRL US