AICPA applauds SEC proposal to require financial statements be filed using XBRL.

On May 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov) released a proposal that would advance XBRL adoption for financial reporting. This effort marks a significant milestone in bringing U.S. companies into the global standard that many countries around the world have already adopted as a means of communicating business information. The AICPA was a founder of the XBRL initiative and is proud of XBRL's significant contribution to improved financial reporting (www.xbrl.us).

If passed, the new rule, which is expected to become effective this fall, would require all U.S. companies to provide financial information using interactive data beginning in 2009 for the largest companies, and within three years after that for all public companies. Market-wide...