XBRL a global event?

A lot of companies are gearing up to report in XBRL. We tend to see the new format as a burden (or opportunity) unique to the United States, but as the OpenWeb Developer's Journal notes, XBRL is really a worldwide movement.

In Singapore, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) has already required all companies report annual returns in an XBRL-like format. The European Union, the UK and Sweden have offered new XBRL-based options for companies to file their annual returns. Lots of bank regulatory organizations and stock markets are also mulling XBRL requirements. 

One issue here is the ability of regulatory bodies to actually use this information. Making all that data usable by analysts will not be a snap. Some serious thought needs to be devoted to developing in-house systems. Presumably, regulators will want analysis that goes beyond what we're likely to see on websites initially. 

For more:
- here's the article

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