In a national survey of CFOs and senior comptrollers conducted by Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, 64 percent of public companies have no plans to use eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) – despite an SEC mandate requiring XBRL use as early as June 2009 and no later than 2011. While nearly two-thirds (65%) of public companies are familiar with XBRL, only 12 percent actually use it to report their companies’ financial results.

“Unfortunately, for those public companies that reported that they have no plans to use XBRL, this is no longer an option,” said Sean Denham, a partner in Grant Thornton’s Professional Standards Group and a member of the AICPA’s XBRL Task Force. “The SEC recently mandated that public companies have to report their financials using Interactive Data by 2011. The final rule calls for a three-year, phased-in implementation schedule that begins as early as June 15, 2009 for some public companies.” 

Are you familiar with eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), referred to by the SEC as “Interactive Data”?

Does your company currently report financial results using XBRL?

If yes, how challenging have you found the implementation process?

If no, when do you plan to report using XBRL?