Latest News from Diane Mueller

The New Holy Grail: Application Portability in the Cloud

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Today’s enterprise is built on the promises of mobility, everywhere-access and flexibility. We work on multiple devices when and where we want – at the office, on the road or at home. We expect full access to our data and applications – on a sales call, in a boardroom or on a cross-continental flight. And we expect to be able to transfer our data seamlessly between platforms –on a mobile device, on the desktop or in the cloud. Why should enterprise cloud application data be any different? Enterprises housing apps in the cloud should expect to be able to position application data to optimize service, ensure regulatory compliance and preserve privacy. Application portability is a mission-critical demand of the real-world enterprise, and yet it’s a need left unfulfilled by public cloud providers.

Rebuilding Public Trust: The Case for Compliant Financial Data

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:31:14 EDT

In the aftermath of banking failures, subprime mortgages, and bailouts across multiple industry sectors, it is a good time to examine the strategies it will take to rebuild public trust in our government and in the world’s financial markets. I believe the answer depends both on what we can do and how we do it. With all the financial information that corporations were obligated to report because of existing government regulations, how could we not have foreseen this financial disaster? Did we misread the data? Was the information in the reports incorrect? Is there more that should have been required to report? What was missing were regulations that properly addressed how the information was to be reported. Being specific on the “how” may very well have provided the warnings of the impending disaster rather than finding out how bad it was in the midst of it. The key to solving the problem is figuring out the best way to publish our data.

Is Your Investor Relations Website Ready for XBRL?

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:28:55 EDT

The U.S. SEC recently issued new rules requiring companies to provide financial statement information on their corporate web sites in an interactive data format using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). This is good news because XBRL has the potential to increase the speed, accuracy and usability of financial disclosures for investors while also ultimately reducing corporate costs. Companies are now required to provide their financial statements on their corporate web sites in interactive data format using XBRL no later than the calendar day that they submit their financial statements to the SEC (1). In this format, financial statement information can be viewed interactively from your investor relations web sites, downloaded directly into spreadsheets, analyzed in a variety of ways using commercial off-the-shelf software and used within investment models in other software formats.

Government IT Expo: eGov and Open Standards

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EDT

When President Obama appointed his new federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, last week, Kundra announced ambitious plans to "democratize" federal government data by making it accessible in open formats and in data feeds. His plan calls for the creation of a single point of access to all public federal information. The idea is to enable the data to be accessed by developers whose applications will open up federal data to the sunlight of millions of citizens by encouraging them to scrutinize how the Recovery Act’s dollars will be spent.

Free the Data: eGov and Open Standards

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EDT

When President Obama appointed his new federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, last week, Kundra announced ambitious plans to “democratize” federal government data by making it accessible in open formats and in data feeds. His plan calls for the creation of a single point of access to all public federal information. The idea is to enable the data to be accessed by developers whose applications will open up federal data to the sunlight of millions of citizens by encouraging them to scrutinize how the Recovery Act’s dollars will be spent.

Google News - XBRL: Google News - XBRL: Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of ... - SYS-CON Media (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:11:02 EDT

SYS-CON Media (press release)

Google News - XBRL: Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of ...
SYS-CON Media (press release), NJ
By Diane Mueller By Kate Betts-Wilmott Canadian issuers busy with the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2011, will also feel the impact of the adoption of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). ...
Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of XBRL Investment Executive
RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... PR-CANADA.net (press release)
all 5 news articles

Google News - XBRL: Google News - XBRL: Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of ... - SYS-CON Media (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:11:02 EDT

SYS-CON Media (press release)

Google News - XBRL: Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of XBRL - Investment Executive

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:48:10 EDT

SYS-CON Media (press release)

Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of XBRL
Investment Executive, Canada
By Kate Betts-Wilmott Canadian issuers busy with the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2011, will also feel the impact of the adoption of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). Both the US Securities and ...
RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... PR-CANADA.net (press release)
all 3 news articles

Google News - XBRL: Canadian issuers bracing for first phase of XBRL - Investment Executive

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:48:10 EDT

SYS-CON Media (press release)

Google News - XBRL: EDGAR Online: XBRL's Only Pure Play - Seeking Alpha

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:18:27 EDT

EDGAR Online: XBRL's Only Pure Play
Seeking Alpha, NY
EDGAR Online, Inc. estimates that the following number of companies will be impacted by the SEC's recent phased-in mandate requiring companies to file their financial reports in XBRL format: The potential opportunity for EDGAR Online from the XBRL ...

Google News - XBRL: EDGAR Online: XBRL's Only Pure Play - Seeking Alpha

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:18:27 EDT

Google News - XBRL: EDGAR Online: XBRL's Only Pure Play - Seeking Alpha

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:18:27 EDT

Google News - XBRL: EDGAR Online: XBRL's Only Pure Play - Seeking Alpha

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:18:27 EDT

Google News - XBRL: RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... - PR-CANADA.net (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:40:39 EDT

RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ...
PR-CANADA.net (press release), Montenegro
XBRL Canada will host an interactive webinar April 15 to discuss the impact of XBRL and IFRS adoption on the regulatory environment for Canadian companies as seen by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Canadian Securities ...

Google News - XBRL: RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... - PR-CANADA.net (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:40:39 EDT

Google News - XBRL: RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... - PR-CANADA.net (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:40:39 EDT

Google News - XBRL: RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... - PR-CANADA.net (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:40:39 EDT

Google News - XBRL: RETRANSMISSION: XBRL Canada Webinar-Regulatory Filing for Canadian ... - PR-CANADA.net (press release)

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:40:39 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

A Better Way to Rate Bonds
HarvardBusiness.org, MA
Crovitz also notes that XBRL, the more flexible and intelligent data standard for sharing financial information, might help make things more open. S&P itself has recently published a white paper suggesting three different models: issuer pay, ...

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Google News - XBRL: A Better Way to Rate Bonds - HarvardBusiness.org

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:26:59 EDT

Hitachi Data Interactive: EBRC Proposes New XBRL Taxonomy for the MD&A

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:11:03 EDT

Written by Bob Laux Posted on April 15, 2009

Bob Laux is the Senior Director of Financial Accounting and Reporting at Microsoft Corporation. He is responsible for Microsoft’s technical accounting, including interacting with and responding to accounting standard setters on numerous issues. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2000, Mr. Laux was an Industry Fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) where he was responsible for coordinating the activities of the Emerging Issues Task Force.

As indicated in previous posts on this blog, the SEC’s rule for interactive data is a major milestone in XBRL implementation. However, it is important that there are continued improvements in XBRL taxonomies, especially with respect to disclosures outside the financial statements and footnotes.

The SEC rule made specific reference to disclosures outside the financial statements and footnotes:

We did not propose, and are not adopting, a requirement that filers provide interactive data for their Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), executive compensation, or other financial, statistical or narrative disclosure . . . In deciding not to require the tagging of this information at this time, we agree with the commenters who believed that more experience with interactive data and a greater understanding of the costs and time associated with compliance with the requirements as proposed is needed before expanding the requirement to other information. We will continue to consider, however, the advisability of permissible optional or required interactive data for disclosures made outside a set of financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP or IFRS as issued by the IASB or related financial statement schedules required under Commission rules (33-9002, pages 40-41).

The Enhanced Business Reporting Consortium (EBRC) is currently in the process of improving the taxonomy for Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). As a follow on to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Special Committee on Enhanced Business Reporting, the EBRC was formed by four founding members: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft, Grant Thornton, and the AICPA. The mission of the EBRC is to establish a consortium of investors, creditors, regulators, management, and other stakeholders to improve the quality, integrity, and transparency of information used for decision-making. In particular, the EBRC is working on enhancing the reporting model to focus not only on financial information, but also on a range of contextual and nonfinancial information that provides an enriched understanding of company performance, value drivers, strategies, and potential.

The current MD&A taxonomy consists of approximately 70 tags with most of the elements at the same hierarchical level. This required the creation of numerous company-specific extensions to make the taxonomy useful for those companies that tagged their MD&A under the SEC’s Voluntary Filing Program. While the new taxonomy being proposed by the EBRC currently only consists of approximately 140 tags, it has a structure that should significantly simplify the tagging of the information as well as facilitate access for users of this information.

It is hoped that the financial reporting supply chain will openly collaborate on the proposed taxonomy in order to create more detailed tags so that narrative information can be provided in an interactive data format. Although the SEC is not requiring the tagging of narrative information at this time, the ability to tag and consume nonfinancial information (i.e., the narrative type of disclosures that are made via MD&A and other channels of corporate communication) is increasingly useful to both companies and consumers of business information, and is vital to providing enhanced transparency in the markets.

The EBRC invites interested parties to review the proposed MD&A taxonomy at this website. Follow the instructions for logging in and the MD&A taxonomy will be midway down the navigation tree once you are logged in.

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ...
Business Wire (press release), CA
The conference will offer a unique opportunity to interact with and hear from key vendors, the XBRL leadership and various government regulators discussing XBRL solutions, projects and implementations of XBRL to provide greater regulatory transparency. ...

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: 19 th XBRL International Conference to Be Held in Paris, France on ... - Business Wire (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:01:22 EDT

Google News - XBRL: Internet and Websites : Implementing XBRL In-House – Different ... - Prudent Press Agency (press release)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:41:04 EDT

Internet and Websites : Implementing XBRL In-House – Different ...
Prudent Press Agency (press release), Netherlands
(Prudent Press Agency)--- In my first article about implementing XBRL in-house, I focused on companies that had to comply with regulatory bodies, and the components they needed in order to implement XBRL successfully. This article will focus on the ...