| |
|
|
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rivet Software Newsletter XBRL Solutions and Service Providers
December 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|
Greetings!
The SEC has passed a historic mandate requiring the filing of financial data in XBRL interactive format with some companies being required to file as early as June 15, 2009! The good news is, you are already one step ahead. Rivet is here to help with world class products, support, and advice during this evolutionary period in the financial industry. We make XBRL simple, we make it efficient, and most importantly, we're ready today.
|
| SEC Passes Historic Mandate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Wednesday, December 17th, the SEC passed a historic mandate
requiring financial data to be filed in XBRL interactive data format. The
first to comply will be companies with a market cap greater than $5 billion as of June 30, 2008, beginning with reporting periods after June 15,
2009. All other domestic and foreign filers will be required to file in the new XBRL format according to a phased two-year schedule.
SEC
Filers are faced with a challenge now that Interactive Data filings have been
mandated by the SEC. The new requirement will require substantial involvement
from a filer's external reporting team, and support from advisors experienced
in XBRL, US GAAP, and financial reporting. For more information, please visit the SEC's website.
|
|
|
A Letter from Roger Metz, CFO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like many of my finance and accounting peers, I more or less tuned out the intonations of "XBRL" and "Interactive Data" that began creeping into my world a few years ago, when I had various finance responsibilities at a mid-size public company. Sure, I understood the basic premise of data tags and how interactive data might make my life a little easier, but it was also quite possible that this whole XBRL thing might just as easily complicate my life with little added benefit.
Over time, however, the references to XBRL became more prevalent, and in May 2008 became much more real when the SEC announced its proposed XBRL mandate. Like a good corporate soldier, I began to research the issue at a more in-depth level to find out exactly what the proposed mandate means in terms of workload and, hopefully, benefits. The more I learned, the more I believed...so much in fact that I signed on as Rivet Software's CFO in November 2008.
Now that XBRL is officially here, I thought I'd share a bit of perspective with you. My pre-Rivet days were an amalgamation of Big 4 auditing, corporate accounting, equity research, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, investor relations and treasury duties, so I have unique insight and understanding of the benefits of XBRL and the places it might impact your life.
First the pain, then the gain...
Let's start with the immediate "problem" at hand. If you work for a public company or mutual fund and have a hand in preparing or reviewing your company's public disclosures and filings, you're going to have to find the right solution that enables you to comply with the new SEC mandate. You're accountable to many constituencies (executives, board, shareholders, auditors and regulators to name just a few) with your public reporting, which means you have to get it right. Some companies may elect to outsource the tagging process to a service provider, but at Rivet we believe you'll ultimately want to control the process of XBRL tagging in-house - and we'll make sure it's as easy as possible for you.
Rivet offers two great self-tagging solutions, Dragon Tag (a desktop tool) and CrossTag (a hosted, SaaS tool); either of these will get the job done in a very efficient, user-friendly and non-technical manner. If you can click & drag with your mouse and have basic Microsoft Excel skills, you can use Rivet's tagging tools. Rivet has already taken care of the the technical stuff for you. CrossTag even has some really great workflow capabilities that provide an audit trail to keep you in good graces with your internal and external auditors.
Rivet also has a world-class product support group staffed with accountants and CPAs to help you navigate the process. In a typical engagement, they'll train you on the software, work side-by-side with you to create your initial filing template, and be there to answer your questions ranging from "how do I do this with the software?" to "which tag should I apply to this unique equity account that we have?" There's a tremendous benefit to having accounting peers on the other end of the support line.
Sure, the first filing will take a little time to prepare, but you can do that (with our help) well in advance of your actual SEC filing deadline and thanks to Rivet it's really not all that onerous of a task. In fact many of the filers in the SEC's pilot program used Rivet software and spent anywhere from 40 to 80 man-hours, including review time, to prepare their first SEC filing; the time commitment for subsequent quarters decreases tremendously, as the template has already been built.
So, what's the upside?
The initial wave of compliance-related activity will no doubt keep us all busy, but this is really all about using the plethora of tagged data sometime, right?
Anyone who regularly builds financial spreadsheets (i.e., anyone who is actually reading this document) burns hours and even days every quarter keying data from disparate sources into Excel, all the while wondering exactly what company "X" really includes in certain line items, and whether or not it is truly comparable to company "Y". With XBRL, the pain and mystery are gone - companies will have to tag each number with a consistent, standardized definition, and those numbers can be automatically imported to and updated in your spreadsheet. Transparency, comparability, consistency and easy access to data... and no more re-keying new numbers into next quarter! If only XBRL existed 20 years ago...
Rivet has developed a robust analytics engine called Crossfire, a sophisticated SaaS-delivered application that supports the aggregation and analysis of information from XBRL filings, ERP systems, data warehouses, and traditional financial data feeds. It was built by accounting and finance folks, for use by accounting and finance folks, to help you harness the power of this new universe of interactive data. Like our tagging applications, anyone with basic Excel skills can master it in no time.
Crossfire's remarkable support for Interactive Data allows users to easily merge, analyze and share data not just from inside your company but also from multiple XBRL sources such as the SEC (Corporate Financials and Mutual Fund Risk & Return), FDIC Bank Call Data, and international sources such as the Japanese, German, and Shanghai stock exchanges. In other words, it was designed to make your life easier.
Conclusion
In time XBRL will no longer be seen as a compliance measure, but rather an embedded, enabling tool that underlies and proliferates virtually every aspect of financial data and the applications that support accounting and finance. Sure, it's a little extra work out of the gate, but the SEC's commitment to XBRL is indeed a very good thing that will save everyone a lot of time in the long run, while also improving the public reporting/filing process by improving the quality and consistency of data. Rivet pioneered the XBRL tagging, viewing and analysis business, and wants to help you navigate the waters in coming weeks, months and years as XBRL becomes an integral part of our lives.
|
|
| Our Solutions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
| Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Solutions
|
| Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rivet Software
4340 S. Monaco St., Fourth Floor
Denver, Colorado 80237
Phone: (800) 854-8821
Fax: (720) 249-2101
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
|
|