XBRL -- SEC Looks for Volunteers
The SEC is prodding companies to start reporting their financial data in a format called XBRL, nicknamed interactive data. Annual and quarterly reports filed this way can be "read" by computers, allowing investors to pull revenue, net income or any other item on the financials into a spreadsheet. But unlike other countries, where regulators require companies to file this way, the SEC is hoping the free market eases them into the change, says Chairman Christopher Cox.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-06-27-xbrl-usat_x.htm
When some companies start reporting this way, others will be guilted into following, says Bill Hartnett, general manager of strategy for the financial services group of Microsoft. Many companies, for instance, began counting the value of stock options before it was required because other companies did. Investors will perceive companies that don't file XBRL statements as if they "look like they're trying to hide," he says.
