XBRL US Announces Sector 3 Takes Grand Prize in XBRL Challenge Developer Contest

NEW YORK, March 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- XBRL US, the nonprofit consortium for XBRL reporting, announced this week that Sector 3, an application within the XBRL to XL product suite, is the $20,000 Grand Prize Winner of the 2012 XBRL Challenge.  The Challenge is a developer contest to build the best open source analytical application that consumes XBRL-formatted data from the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) EDGAR database.  The announcement was made during the XBRL and Financial Analysis Conference which was webcast live.  The archive for that webcast is now available and can be accessed at http://xbrl.us/FinAnalysisWebcast.

The winning entry to the XBRL Challenge, Sector 3, was chosen based on the simple design and strong analytics that allow users to perform multidimensional analysis and to standardize business segments and concepts.   The conference featured speakers from CFA Institute, Columbia Business School, Crain's New York, Edgar-Online, GMI Ratings, Google, Morgan Stanley, New York University, Stern School of Business, PwC, Rivet Software, the SEC, Thomson Reuters, WRDS (Wharton Research Data Services), XBRL US, and the winner of the 2011 XBRL Challenge, Calcbench.  Topics covered during the ½ day event included a discussion about XBRL databases, a review of the XBRL Challenge applications and a conversation among investors and regulators about their use of XBRL data. 

"The goal of the XBRL Challenge contest was to expand the landscape for tools that consume XBRL-formatted corporate data,"  said Paul Ratnaraj, Director – Advanced Initiatives, at Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS). "We know the demand for XBRL data, with its greater accuracy, granularity and timeliness is there among investors and other users of public company data.  Now we need to spur the development of more XBRL consumption tools." 

Data produced in XBRL format is computer-readable which gives it greater portability, reliability, and timeliness, and can provide individual and institutional investors with better information for investment decisions.  

The XBRL Challenge was sponsored by the American Institute of CPAs, CFA Institute, WRDS and XBRL US.  A panel of five judges was assembled to review the Challenge entries and select the winner.

Sector 3 is part of the XBRL to XL application suite, created by Fundamental X, which was founded by Jim Truscott in 2000 and is based in Hastings, England. 

More information about the contest and links to the XBRL Challenge winner and finalists can be found at http://xbrl.us/challenge.   

About the AICPA

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the world's largest member association representing the accounting profession, with nearly 386,000 members in 128 countries and a 125-year heritage of serving the public interest.  AICPA members represent many areas of practice, including business and industry, public practice, government, education and consulting.

The AICPA sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies, nonprofit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination and offers specialty credentials for CPAs who concentrate on personal financial planning; fraud and forensics; business valuation; and information technology. Through a joint venture with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), it has established the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation to elevate management accounting globally.

The AICPA maintains offices in New York, Washington, DC, Durham, NC, and Ewing, NJ.

Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Press Center at aicpa.org/press.

About CFA Institute

CFA Institute is the global association for investment professionals. It administers the CFA and CIPM curriculum and exam programs worldwide; publishes research; conducts professional development programs; and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Institute has more than 105,000 members, who include the world's 95,000 CFA charterholders, in 135 countries and territories, as well as 135 affiliated professional societies in 58 countries and territories. More information may be found at www.cfainstitute.org.

About WRDS
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is the leading, comprehensive, internet-based data research service used by academic, government, non-profit institutions, and corporate firms.  WRDS provides the user with one location to access over 200 terabytes of data across multiple disciplines, such as Finance, Marketing, and Economics.  WRDS provides flexible data delivery options, including a simple but powerful web query method, and provides researchers with the ability to reduce their research time and execute strategy development on the powerful WRDS Cloud.  Developed in 1993 to support faculty research at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, WRDS has since evolved to become the leading business intelligence tool for a global research community of 30,000 users at over 300 institutions in 27 countries.   http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu

About XBRL US

XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XBRL business reporting standards in the U.S. and it represents the business information supply chain. Its mission is to support the implementation of XBRL business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies for use by U.S. public and private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting XBRL adoption through marketplace collaboration. XBRL US has developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP, credit rating and mutual fund reporting under contract with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  www.xbrl.us

Links:

Website: http://xbrl.us  

XBRL Challenge:  http://xbrl.us/challenge

Link to conference webcast archive:  http://xbrl.us/FinAnalysisWebcast

SOURCE XBRL US