With a major XBRL deadline looming, this is a good time for a look at one of the industry leaders, Edgar Online.Recall that just about all public companies will be required to file financial information in XBRL for quarters ending on or after June 15, 2011--which is coming up.

Faced with phased-in deadlines, many companies have turned to third-party consultants to do the hard work of tagging individual compliance items with XBRL. That has played into Edgar Online's hands. Revenue from XBRL work soared 152 percent in first quarter. CEO Robert Farrell tells The Washington Post that he expects XBRL work to drive profitability by further streamlining the filing process and anticipates 25 percent annual growth in the next three years. Which just might be enough to life the company's earnings out of the red, where it has been mired for the past few quarters.

Edgar Online is one of the true pioneers in this field, and its database of filings goes back further than any other domestic company, which could prove a competitive advantage. Recall that Bain Capital has invested $12 million in Edgar Online. In addition, it has recently inked a deal with SunGard Global Services to increase its staff in India from 89 to 250 to help companies process their filings in the new format. It also recently bought UBmatrix, gaining a large portfolio of XBRL-based services. Of course there will be lots of competition from larger ERP-like companies such as IBM and SAP, which have bought small XBRL firms. Oracle has inked a deal with Edgar Online and UBMatrix. Offshore players like Tata are also active.

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