Speaking to a meeting of theAmerican Institute of Certified Public Accountants yesterday, U.S. Securitiesand Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox reiterated his stance on theimportance of a common language for financial reports and his support fordata-tagging technology, the Associated Press reports.
“A common language promotes communicationand understanding,” Cox told delegates at the AmericanInstitute of Certified Public Accountants conference in
Cox has championed XBRL, amachine-readable computer program that stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. Its supporters say it would improve the usability of financialreports, increase data quality, as well as speed the time to publishing.
XBRL would make it easier forinvestors to compare and analyze financial data from companies regardless ofwhere they file their financial reports, he maintains.
The SEC released
“We have, for the first time,the opportunity to consider that because the XBRL taxonomies for U.S. GAAP isnow completed,” Cox told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
Before the SEC makes a finaldecision on whether to mandate XBRL, it will analyze the costs and benefits, hesaid. Implementation costs in the first year range from $5,000 to $40,000, hesaid, adding that XBRL saved companies thousands of “hours.”