Symposium on Standard Business Reporting for Regulatory Requirement

What is Standard Business Reporting,
Interactive Data or XBRL for Regulatory Reporting

Along with standardization efforts in the W3C and what would become XBRL.org and others, the United States moved forward in a new framework for regulatory reporting where businesses used electronic formats that made more clear and more quickly what the businesses were saying in their required reporting. At the FDIC, SEC, Federal Reserve Bank and other governmental entities, there has been a greater reliance on standardized reporting formats for getting information from banks and public corporations.

The use of XBRL for regulatory reporting is making the information much easier to analyze and with less effort. It is harder to hide peculiarities or be obsequious in reporting. And we believe it is vital that public information be provided in a timely manner, accurately, be verifiable and published in ways that are easy for citizens and software to consume.

As with all electronic open standards, there will be eventual changes and improvements. One missing piece may be the lack of electronic citations to specific regulatory and law provisions. Another important goal is to have widespread understanding of what this sea change may bring, like new enforcement methods, new markets for the analytical applications and biz mashups, greater and more informed public and private discussions of financial matters. Education is the key need to help government, business and citizens to better take advantage.