After years of development, data tagging seems little more than a minor financial reporting requirement. Yet some now say it could transform internal finance operations. Is this XBRL's true calling, or just more hype?

After more than a decade of hype about the benefits of coding financial data with XBRL, the good news for companies now required to do so is that it seems relatively easy and inexpensive. While XBRL, in the final analysis, may not add much value, preparers say, at worst it is a minor inconvenience.

That's a somewhat deflating description. Former SEC chairman Christopher Cox staked much of his now-tattered reputation on the investor benefits of XBRL. Others claimed it would streamline international accounting convergence and render differences in financial statement presentation all but moot. And it may yet do all of those things.

Now, however, advocates are pointing to a completely different area that may benefit from XBRL: internal management reporting.

Put simply, the premise is that tagging information in financial and other IT systems in a standardized format would make it easier for companies to share data across units and departments. That in turn would improve internal reporting, the argument goes. Notably, companies would be able to view performance as reflected in various line items on a continuous real-time basis, rather than waiting for the end of a reporting period to get the full picture. Better business decisions then could be made, and more quickly.

A major industry group, the Institute of Management Accountants, this month formed an XBRL Advisory Committee to build awareness that data tagging can do more than satisfy compliance requirements. "We're focused on moving XBRL down internally into organizations," Nevada State Controller Kim Wallin, the committee's chair, told "We feel it's a great tool for business intelligence, getting rid of spreadsheets, and improving internal controls."

Nevada is regarded as a pioneer for its use of XBRL to improve reporting on, and increase the efficiency of, debt collection and the awarding of grants. It remains to be seen, though, how soon companies generally might begin to realize any benefits. Tagging internal data would require additional development work beyond that done for public financials. For most, thoughts of using XBRL to improve the business are far off the radar screen, or at least have been stalled by the recession.

"Right now organizations are only funding projects they see as strategic," said John Van Decker, a research vice president with Gartner Group, the IT advisory firm, which recently issued a report that urged companies to work toward internal use of XBRL. "An XBRL initiative actually would be strategic, because it could improve management reporting, but I don't see that most companies understand what it can provide. It's just thought of something that will need to be done for external financial reporting."

(The Securities and Exchange Commission has mandated that all U.S. public companies file data-tagged financial reports by 2011, starting with the 500 largest for periods ending after June 15 of this year.)

Software shortfall

But even companies that have a high opinion of what bringing XBRL to bear internally could provide are not rushing in. At Microsoft — which began filing data-tagged financials in 2004, even before the SEC organized a voluntary early adoption program — there has been talk of using XBRL for a current project to upgrade internal reporting, but no action.

That, said Bob Laux, the software giant's senior director of financial reporting, is because vendors of enterprise resource planning and general ledger systems have not yet embedded XBRL functionality designed specifically for internal reporting purposes. 

"In our opinion these systems just don't make it as efficient as it needs to be," Laux told "Compared to the amount of information that's going to be reported externally, tagging all the information that a company has available internally will be quite a daunting task. It needs to be made easier — and I think it can be, through the software companies. So we're looking at it, but like other companies, we haven't implemented it."

XBRL's potential for internal efficiency "is pretty large," added Laux. "It's a daunting task, but not so daunting that you just ignore it. But I think it's going to take a few years."

According to Laux, "there's been maybe a lot of hype [from the XBRL community] and an over-promising of what can be done. I'm a strong advocate and think these things can be done, but they take time." For the software companies, he noted, there is an understandable Catch-22 factor: there's little interest in building the capabilities until demand increases, but there may not be much demand until the tools are created.

Gartner's Van Decker agreed. "Companies are waiting because the ERP vendors have not seen the demand," he said. Both Oracle and SAP, he noted, have formed partnerships with UBMatrix, an XBRL taxonomy firm. However, he said, "The XBRL capability they've inserted has been primarily for external reporting. They've tacked it onto the financial consolidation as opposed to building taxonomy values into the ERP and general ledger systems. The management reporting perspective is pretty much being ignored."