Wanted: A Few Good Companies

The SEC issued a press release a few days ago announcing that they will offer expedited reviews of registration statements if a company is willing to volunteer for a test group.  The group is to submit it's information in XBLR, a technology that , in the words of the press release "holds the promise of transforming the static, text-only documents companies file with the SEC into dynamic financial reports that can be quickly and easily accessed and analyzed".  As part of the test, participating companies will have to track their involvement, including the cost of submitting in XBLR.

I believe that XBLR submission will quickly become the norm.  Best Practice companies are always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of compliance efforts.  This technology will enable companies to reduce manual efforts in preparing financial reports and increase the amount of time dedicated to analysis.  There will be initial costs to cross over to this technology, including training for workers.  The benefit, however, will be better compliance at a reduced cost.  And that can only be good for companies.