XBRL US Announces Results from XBRL Preparedness Survey

NEW YORK, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- XBRL US, the XML standard setter for business information reporting in the U.S., announced today that public companies are heeding the advice to "start early" in preparing for XBRL adoption, according to a joint survey with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). 73% of respondents said that they have begun preparations for adoption of XBRL.  Most of those surveyed, 93%, had at least a basic knowledge of XBRL.

Many organizations are looking to outside vendors to create and submit their XBRL-formatted financial statements.  55% of those who have already submitted XBRL-tagged data have used consultants or outside vendors to create and submit, while 56% of those who have yet to submit plan to outsource to a service provider.  

"It's clear from this survey that external reporting managers recognize the importance of the XBRL creation process and are taking early steps to get educated," said Campbell Pryde, Chief Standards Officer, XBRL US. "The same care and attention to detail that go into the preparation of any report going to investors and regulators must be applied on the XBRL documents."

New processes are likely to bring implementation challenges.  When asked about their biggest concerns, new filers responded that insufficient resources and a need to get educated was top on their minds, while those that have already submitted XBRL filings are more concerned with detailed footnote tagging and obtaining information on how to increase the efficiencies in the preparation and submission process.

Preparation time for creating XBRL-formatted financial statement decreases dramatically after the first filing, according to respondents who have prepared multiple XBRL financials:

• 57% said it took them over 120 hours to complete their first submission; 64% of those that filed a second time around said it took less than 40 hours
• 45% of those that filed a second time said it was significantly easier the second time

The XBRL Preparedness Survey was conducted via an online questionnaire from November 4 to November 29, 2009 and included over 200 respondents from public companies.  Key findings from the survey and the full results are available at http://xbrl.us/News/Pages/20100114summary.aspx.

XBRL US conducts a series of in-person training events and free online webinars geared to help companies increase the efficiencies in XBRL preparation and submission, including detailed footnote tagging.  To learn more, visit http://xbrl.us/webinars for webinars and http://xbrl.us/training for training sessions.

About XBRL US

XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XML business reporting standards in the United States and is a jurisdiction of XBRL International. It represents the business information supply chain, including accounting firms, software companies, financial databases, printers and government agencies. Its mission is to support the implementation of XML business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies for use by US public and private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting XBRL adoption through the collaboration of the business reporting supply chain. XBRL US has developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP and mutual fund reporting under contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  XBRL US Labs, the research and development arm of XBRL US, leverages the XBRL US platform, methodologies and people to address the quality of taxonomies and the harmonization of XBRL with other XML standards with the goal of enabling faster XBRL adoption.  

SOURCE XBRL US