Internationally renowned XBRL expert,Mike Willis,runs the Office of Structured Data (OSD)at the SEC.This week he was interviewed by Lou Rohman for a piece in the Merrill rporation magazine,Dimensions.

As well as outlining the role of OSD,Willis describes some of the capabilities that their in-house XBRL analytic tools provide to the staff of the securities regulator.SEC staff can identify unusual patterns in financial statements that might require follow up or investigation via a range of in-house tools.

Their CIRA tool provides dashboards that can pare a specific pany to its peers in order to detect abnormal results,focus on particular financial reporting issues,and generate lists of panies that meet a specific criteria.

It’s pretty clear from the interview that,without giving away any of its investigative secrets,the US regulator relies increasingly heavily on its XBRL data set for a wide range of enforcement and policy making activities.Read the piece here (sign up required).

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