The House on Monday evening approved legislation that would make it easier to scrutinize data on mpanies receiving federal funds. It would require rporations to file activity reports to agencies in a uniform business language and require agencies to ensure the public can view the standardized financial information.

The bipartisan measure, introduced by bailout-opponent Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, calls on the White House to issue rules within 18 months for using, ernmentwide, the same financial data format, called eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

The Securities and Exchange mission and the Federal Deposit Insurance rp. already use the standard to simplify the process of analyzing financial filings.

But most agencies llect financial reports in many different data formats, making it hard to aess and mpare the data. The process is generally frustrating, time-nsuming and largely manual, increasing the likelihood of human error, said Liv A. Watson, a -founder of XBRL who serves on the board of director of financial information management firm IRIS India.

The legislation likely would require agencies to spend $50,000 to $100,000 on new technologies to standardize on XBRL.

"The ernment would have to invest in tools and infrastructure to store and render XBRL data, but if you think about it, today they do that many times over to deal with many different data formats," Watson said. "What it really is about is the process of getting your information into a disverable standard that can be analyzed and mpared. It is an acuntability and responsibility they have to taxpayers."

The technologies check whether mpany filings ntain all the data fields required by XBRL and make sure that the numbers add up rrectly. For example, reported credit card inme on the inme statement should have a rresponding asset on the balance sheet.

Banking industry officials said the burden of nverting their reports to XBRL would be outweighed by the benefits of a uniform standard, especially if it is adopted internationally.

To expedite House passage, the Oversight and ernment Reform mittee on Thursday added the bill, H.R. 2392, to a Senate-passed measure, S. 303, which reauthorizes Grants., a one-s shop enabling citizens to apply for federal awards.