XBRL International issues Inline XBRL Candidate Recommendation and Call for Implementations

On 16 November, the Rendering Working Group of XBRL International issued a Candidate Recommendation to gather implementation experience on the Inline XBRL (Rendering) Specification. The working group also issued a Call for Implementations. Inline XBRL is a standard for embedding XBRL fragments into an HTML document. The objective is to provide documents which can be viewed in a browser while making use of XBRL tags which can be processed automatically by consuming applications. This specification defines the syntax for such documents and how the syntax maps into an XBRL instance. Feedback should be submitted to rendering-feedback@xbrl.org.

XBRL International announces 2010 Steering Committee election results

On 29 October, XBRL International announced that Mike Willis, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, was re-elected as Chairman of the International Steering Committee (ISC) for 2010. During its October meeting in Brussels, the ISC also elected:

l    Conor O'Kelly, HP Ireland, as 1st Vice Chair representing Jurisdictions;

l    Ralf Franck, DVFA Germany, as 2nd Vice Chair representing At Large members;

l    Arleen Thomas, Senior VP - AICPA, as Treasurer;

l    Chris Rodgers, KPMG UK, as Chairman of the Nominations Committee;

Seven At-Large members to the ISC, including Yossi Newman, Deloitte USA, and Liv Watson, IMA, both of whom are also members of the IASC Foundation XBRL Quality Review Team and XBRL Advisory Council respectively.

MIX Microfinance Taxonomy acknowledged by XBRL International

On 24 November, the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), Inc. announced the official acknowledgement of its Microfinance Taxonomy by XBRL International. MIX recently implemented XBRL as their platform for performance, financial and operational data on microfinance institutions (MFIs). 'XBRL will allow us to more efficiently process the large amounts of data we receive from MFIs throughout the developing world. It will also encourage richer data on microfinance, increasing transparency without increasing the reporting burden on MFIs. With XBRL, MFIs reporting to MIX do not have to use new technology or change the way they report to us,' said Scott Gaul, manager of product development at MIX. 'MFIs can have numerous reporting requirements - to donor organizations, investors, regulators and more. More organizations are using XBRL, and now that we have a common taxonomy for microfinance, we hope to reduce the reporting burden for MFIs through use of appropriate technology standards.' The Microfinance Taxonomy is based on IFRSs, with additional concepts and relationships specific to microfinance.

FASB initiates "Disclosure Framework" project

On 8 July, Robert Hertz, chairman of the FASB, announced the addition of a new FASB agenda project aimed at establishing an overarching framework intended to make financial statement disclosures more effective, coordinated and less redundant. The project was added in response to requests and recommendations received from several constituents expressing concerns over 'disclosure overload'. It is envisioned that this framework will enable all entities to focus on making more coherent disclosures in their annual reporting package, to move away from what some assert has become a compliance exercise, and perhaps to facilitate XBRL tagging of information. The FASB has started its deliberations and plans to issue a preliminary views document in the first half of 2010.

XBRL International publishes conference videos

Videos of the keynote addresses made at the 19th XBRL International Conference in Paris are now available to view on line. During three days, from 23 to 25 June, over 450 participants attended the conference.

XBRL International Steering Committee call for nominations

On 21 August, the International Steering Committee (ISC) of XBRL International announced the opening of seven At Large Representative seats. Four vacancies have arisen due to rotation of existing representatives. These vacancies have a three-year term. One vacancy has arisen due to the resignation of an existing representative and has a one-year term, and two new At Large Representative seats have been created with a three-year term. Interested parties are invited to submit a candidate statement (up to a maximum of 500 words) supporting their proposal. The candidate statement is to be submitted by private email directly to the elections administrator, Olga Shylava (olgas@mail.xbrl.org) with a copy to Chris Rodgers (chris.rodgers@kpmg.co.uk) by 23:59 UTC on 12 October 2009. Candidates will have the opportunity to make a 5-minute presentation to the ISC on 18 October 2009 and will be asked to answer questions from the ISC members, which will be followed by elections administered by the XII Nominations Committee.

IMA forms new XBRL Advisory Committee to benefit accountants in business and industry

On 12 August, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) announced the formation of a new XBRL Advisory Committee to focus on the untapped market needs enabled by XBRL. The Committee, consisting of nine of IMA's volunteer members, will lead IMA's efforts to enable management accountants to be more effective and efficient in a wide range of activities. These include internal business reporting and analysis, business intelligence, data mining, consolidations, transaction processing, and other business processes in which XBRL can drive business performance while preserving data integrity. The XBRL Advisory Committee includes two working groups: an Outreach Working Group that manages internal advocacy and outreach, and the Taxonomy Working Group, which will provide XBRL technical guidance to IMA members and manage IMA's role in developing taxonomies and monitoring XBRL technical developments.

MIX release microfinance taxonomy

On 19 June, MIX (Microfinance Information Exchange Inc.) - the leading information provider for the microfinance industry and a developer of industry benchmarks and performance analysis of microfinance institutions (MFIs) - released the public working draft of the MIX Microfinance Taxonomy. The MIX Taxonomy is an extension of the IFRS Taxonomy 2009 in support of the 1,400 MFIs currently operating in over 100 countries, and was developed to increase financial transparency by improving data flow and exchange between MFIs, regulators, investors/donors, networks/associations and technology providers/borrowers.

AICPA releases XBRL chronology

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has released The Story of Our New Language, a paper based on a chronicle of Charles Hoffman and Louis Matherne, which documents XBRL's journey over the past 10 years. Told from the perspectives of many key influencers of XBRL throughout its history, it relates how the standard emerged - from its origination by Hoffman in 1998, through to the creation of the consortium, and the eventual adoption of XBRL for public company reporting in the US a decade later.

Internal auditors' role in XBRL outlined in whitepaper

In response to a survey conducted by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) indicating that internal auditors need more information on their potential role in their organisation's transition to filing financial statements in XBRL, the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation (IIARF) has released a white paper entitled XBRL: What's in it for Internal Auditors. The paper provides internal auditors with an introduction to XBRL, together with approaches to implementation, and an overview of how internal auditors can be involved in the adoption of the reporting format. It also outlines the US SEC's interactive data (XBRL) filing requirements, as well as information for executives who must make crucial decisions on how to comply with the SEC's mandate over the course of the next few years.

On 9 June, XBRL International announced the elevation of Italy, Luxembourg and South Africa to full jurisdictions with voting rights in the XBRL International Steering Committee. Jurisdictions facilitate and drive adoption of XBRL within their defined regions, supporting the XII mission to promulgate XBRL as the worldwide business reporting standard.