XBRL tagging will change how financial data is reported

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), a version of XML tagging designed to improve the efficiency of financial information reporting, won't change what information is reported. Instead, it will change how information is reported. These tags provide a range of information and allow labels in any language, as well as accounting references or other subsidiary information. XBRL can show how items relate to one another, how they are calculated and whether they fall into particular groups for organizational or presentation purposes. XBRL is extensible, so companies can adapt it to meet special requirements. With XML tagging, the information in a business report is computer-readable and can be extracted, searched and analyzed (even if it's from multiple sources and written in different languages). (Read the article “QuickStudy: Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)” in Computerworld online.)