The Symposium on XBRL Application and Promotion in China, presided over by Director Prof. Liu Qin of the Information Centre of Shanghai National Accounting Institute (SNAI), was held in SNAI on December 29, 2005. Attending the meeting were dozens of people in the academic and industry circles, including experts and professors from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai Finance University and Shanghai Institute of Technology, as well as leaders of the Shanghai Financial Bureau, officials of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and personnel from enterprises.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), the application of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) in the information exchange field of financial reports, is the latest standard and technology in current unstructured information processing, especially the financial information processing. XBRL application will bring profound reform to all links of information generation, circulation and application. XBRL application not only improves the efficiencies of report compilation, data exchange and circulation but also lowers the risks of manual data collection and the cost of data collection. It provides wider possibilities for data comparative analysis. The multi-year longitudinal analysis and the multi-report horizontal comparison, covering multi-companies, multi-industries and multi-countries, can adapt to continuous changing accounting policies and statement requirements. XBRL application, convenient for retrieval, reading and analysis, enhances data readability and maintenance in the future. As an emerging technology, XBRL is currently on the starting stage of exploration on the China's securities market.

Prof. Hu Renyu of ECUST introduced the international application of XBRL technology and proposed the promotion of XBRL in China. According to Hu, the popularization and application of XBRL in China faces a lot of difficulties, such as lack of experts and a XBRL jurisdiction in China's Mainland. It is imperative to work out the next promotion plan. Furthermore, Hu also presented the latest development of XBRL, outlooks of XBRL technology development and the trend of accounting standards globalization promoted by the new technology.

Dean Prof. Zhu Jianguo of the Accountancy Department of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology made a report themed "Analysis on Prospect of XBRL Application in China". According to Zhu, the key of XBRL popularization in China lies in coordination rather than technology. The SSE and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange made efforts in XBRL Application in listed companies' information disclosure. However, many domestic companies are non-listed ones yet should report statements to the finance and tax authorities, in which XBRL should play a more important role. XBRL practice asks for the government to promote as the main coordinator since it involves many authorities. Taiwan and Hong Kong are also positively formulating relevant standards and should pay close attention to coordination with international standards. In terms of taxonomy, an overall guidance regulation should be firstly formulated, and then all industries should work out their own regulations according to different classifications, such as the "listed companies", the "securities and futures", the "banks" and the "auditing and tax". Meanwhile, we should pay more attention to the support of popular analysis software, specialty of Chinese character set and the alternative technology. Now there are many overseas software manufacturers supporting XBRL technology. Thus domestic software developer should also be encouraged to participate in formulating standards.

Deputy Director Huang Hongbin of the SSE Listed Company Department introduced XBRL application in listed companies' information disclosure. Since 2003, the SSE, considering the current listed companies' status quo, applied XBRL technology in listed companies' information disclosure and worked out the relevant templates. 834 listed companies have participated in disclosure of quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports in XBRL format, and the SSE has accumulated a large amount of instances. The SSE is the member of XBRL International, and its Listed Company Information Disclosure Taxonomies has been acknowledged by it. The SSE is to improve and open the current taxonomies and is working out taxonomies for temporary announcements and financial enterprises. The SSE also plans to establish a XBRL jurisdiction, develop relevant application software and organize international conference of XBRL application. Huang pointed out the problems and challenges of XBRL development in China, such as low social recognition and lack of a XBRL jurisdiction and professional guidance. In addition, domestic enterprises cannot achieve self-defined taxonomy in terms of technology, mode change of information service providers will hinder the promotion of new technology, and listed companies may respond negatively to the XBRL technology due to lack of direct interest stimulation.

Chief Yang Guangping of the Shanghai Financial Bureau made a brief speech after hearing the reports. According to Yang, the government always encourages and supports new technology with good social effect. Efforts should be made in XBRL research, application and promotion.

Netizen Zhao Wei of www.esnai.com introduced in free discussion on that afternoon the team "XBRL in China" of the website and the special page for discussing XBRL technology. The team members, engaging in finance, accounting, auditing, technology and application, are enthusiastic about XBRL technology and have committed to the popularization of XBRL technology since 2003. Through the platform of www.esnai.com, they hope to promote XBRL technology to the accounting and auditing professionals and enhance the research and exchange by domestic XBRL technology professionals, allowing more people to know better and participate in XBRL research.

Dean Prof. Zhang Tianxi of the SJTU Accountancy Department gave an introduction to their XBRL research achievements and listed some future research subjects, such as empirically demonstrating the interests brought by XBRL to the market participants and studying XBRL technology from the perspectives of accounting and auditing.

Attendants also made a heated discussion on the work goal and direction. According to Prof. and Doctoral Supervisor Jin Guanghua of School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, also Director of the Accounting Computerization Professional Committee of the Accounting Society of Shanghai, all efforts should be made to popularize XBRL to such beneficiaries as supervisors and governments, as well as accounting and auditing personnel and universities.

Manager Fu Hongjia of Shulun Pan Certified Public Accountants Co., Ltd. said, the application and promotion of XBRL calls for more research and practice, such as communication with the government and relevant authorities including the technology supervisory bureau.

Prof. Liu concluded that emphasis should be given to exchange by establishing online exchange platform and regular exchange mechanism, to work out tasks and plans and exchange research and application achievements.