The House Bills encourage XBRL use

The House passed two bills in early December 2009 with provisions related to the use of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). The SEC currently requires the largest accelerated filers to file an XBRL exhibit with their annual 10-K and quarterly 10-Q’s. Remaining SEC filers will be required to file the XBRL exhibits beginning in 2010 and 2011.

The Government Information Transparency Act (H.R. 2392) will require federal agencies to collect their data in a uniform, searchable format using XBRL thereby simplifying mandatory financial reporting for companies that receive federal funds. The bill calls on the White House to issue rules within 18 months that direct every agency to use XBRL. It would also require companies to file activity reports to agencies in XBRL and require agencies to make the reported financial information viewable by the public.

H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also encourages the use of XBRL. The bill makes it easier to scrutinize complex financial results filed by public companies with government regulators such as the SEC and banking regulators. According to the legislation, financial market regulators must report to Congress for each of the next five years on how they are “encouraging the use and acceptance of interactive data” to increase transparency in financial reporting.