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XBRL Committee Releases First Specification for Financial Statements; Leads to Significant Expansion of Corporate Membership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: T. David Colgren, APR colcomgroup 212-973-9828 dcolgren@colcomgroup.com

 

XBRL COMMITTEE RELEASES FIRST SPECIFICATION FOR
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS;
LEADS TO SIGNIFICANT EXPANSION OF CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP

Committee to Form International Organization to Position
for Rapid Global Expansion and Adoption

NEW YORK, NY, July 31, 2000 — The XBRL Committee announced today that several new, leading companies and organizations have joined the XBRL initiative: ACCPAC International, Inc.; ACL Services Ltd; Bridge Information Systems; Dow Jones & Company, Inc.; e-Numerate Solutions Incorporated; eLedger.com, Inc.; Fidelity Investments; Financial Software Group; First Light Communications, Inc.; MIP, Inc.: Multex.com, Inc.; Oinke, Inc.; PeopleSoft, Inc.; U.S. Advisor, Inc.; Virtual Growth, Inc.; and XBRL Solutions, Inc. XBRL Committee membership now exceeds 50 companies and organizations from around the world and is expanding globally as industry sectors and foreign jurisdictions begin development of XBRL specifications.

In addition, the XBRL Committee announced the on-time release of the first specification for U.S. companies, XBRL for Financial Statements. With the release of the first specification this month, both public and private companies can begin to incorporate XBRL into their financial reporting processes and immediately realize some of its major benefits: a streamlined financial reporting process, technology independence, full interoperability, and reliable extraction of financial information.

"We're pleased to see the high level of involvement with the XBRL initiative from market leaders in the financial services, software, data aggregation and accounting sectors," said David M. Hood, president and CEO of ACCPAC International, Inc. "The Committee has met its commitment for publicly releasing the first specification for U.S. companies, who can now begin to take advantage of XBRL in preparing, analyzing and distributing financial statements to investors, analysts and others. We anticipate that the new specifications will be quickly adopted throughout the financial information supply chain."

In order to meet the rapidly increasing demand for XBRL specifications in other countries, the XBRL Committee announced today its intent to form XBRL.org, an international organization to facilitate the global expansion and adoption of XBRL. XBRL.org's mission will be to develop XBRL specifications on a global scale according to the accounting principles of individual geographies and jurisdictions.

"The AICPA has been working with major companies and international organizations for more than a year to develop the current XBRL specification and to determine the future development cycle of XBRL for other countries, " said Barry Melancon, president of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "With the launch of XBRL for Financial Statements for U.S. companies, we see the need to create an international organization with jurisdiction beyond the United States. Its purpose would be to develop and launch specifications for other countries based on strong global demand from members of the financial information supply chain."

More than 80% of major US public companies provide some type of financial disclosure on the Internet. As a result, investors need accurate and reliable financial information that can be delivered promptly over the Internet to help them make informed financial decisions. XBRL for Financial Reporting meets these needs and leverages efficiencies of the Internet as today's primary source of financial information.

"XBRL helps companies, analysts, investors and other audiences to make better informed financial and management decisions and to leverage the power of the Internet to exchange financial information," said Tom Vos, President of Edgar Online, Inc. "XBRL provides an efficient and reliable means of communicating financial information without changing existing accounting standards or requiring a company to disclose any additional information beyond that in its current financial statements."

Over 50 companies and organizations form the XBRL Steering Committee. Participants include: ACCPAC International, Inc.; ACL Services Ltd; American Institute of CPAs; Arthur Andersen LLP; Best Software; Bridge Information Systems; Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants; CaseWare International Inc.; Crowe, Chizek and Company, LLP; Deloitte & Touche, LLP; Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (NYSE:DJ); e-content, a division of Interleaf, Inc.; EDGAR Online, Inc. (NasdaqNM:EDGR); eLedger.com, Inc.; e-Numerate Solutions Incorporated; ePartners, Inc.; Epicor Software Corporation (NasdaqNM:EPIC); Ernst & Young, LLP; Fidelity Investments; Financial Software Group; First Light Communications, Inc.; FRx Software Corporation; Grant Thornton LLP; Great Plains Software, Inc. (NasdaqNM:GPSI); Hyperion Solutions Corp. (NasdaqNM:HYSL); IBM (NYSE:IBM); Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia; Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; Institute of Management Accountants; International Accounting Standards Committee; KPMG, LLP; Lawson Software; Microsoft Corporation (NasdaqNM:MSFT); MIP, Inc.; Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (NYSE:MWD); Multex.com, Inc. (NasdaqNM:MLTX); Navision Software; Oinke, Inc.; Oracle Corporation (NasdaqNM:ORCL); PeopleSoft, Inc. (NasdaqNM:PSFT); PPA GmbH; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Reuters Group LP (NasdaqNM:RTSY); Sage Software; SAP AG (NYSE:SAP); Standard and Poor's; The Woodburn Group; U.S. Advisor, Inc.; Virtual Growth, Inc.; and XBRL Solutions, Inc.

For more information about XBRL, please visit http://www.xbrl.org.

©2000 AICPA