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SEC
hosts another 'show-and-tell' on XBRL
Mar 23, 2007
Cox says no audit on tagging process
WASHINGTON, DC -- Most of the focus in the SEC's push for XBRL adoption has
been on its importance for investors. Yet corporation finance chief John
White this week said the tools are as helpful for filers since they lead to
'higher quality, more consistent and easier to understand disclosure.'
As an example in his 'show-and-tell' demonstration at the SEC's third XBRL
roundtable, White said the tagging language would help disclosure teams see
'very quickly' if there are inconsistencies in the reporting of items like
revenue which need to appear in multiple sections throughout a filing.
'[XBRL] is a tool for senior management, as they get ready for the earnings
conference call, they'll be able to look at the filings and comparisons
while there's still time to make revisions, corrections and clarifications
before they file,' he said.
He said wide adoption of XBRL would also help companies on sensitive areas
like stock option grants, since they could see their own past disclosures on
grants and also 'what other companies are saying, when, where and what
they're disclosing.'
Perhaps taking some of the pressure off companies making XBRL conversions,
chairman Christopher Cox said the agency wouldn't be auditing the process to
tag data. There should be 'no attest on tagging,' he said. 'It's not
destined to be part of the internal controls process.'
Comcast's chief accounting officer Larry Salva provided his own testimonial
on the ease of his experience in the XBRL voluntary filer program. 'External
costs might be less than $5,000 for first-year filings,' he said. 'The time
commitment probably was 150 hours to get the first filing done.'
Archived audio and video webcasts of the roundtable are accessible at
http://www.sec.gov.
By Anna Snider
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