The Institute of Management Accountants has formed a new XBRL Advisory Committee to focus on the untapped market needs created by interactive data-tagging technology.

Kim Wallin

The SEC has mandated that the largest public companies begin using Extensible Business Reporting Language technology when filing their financial statements. XBRL technology promises to make financials easier to compare and analyze across different companies and industries. The IMA committee will include nine volunteer members who will lead the IMA’s efforts to enable management accountants to be more effective and efficient in using the technology for activities such as internal business reporting and analysis (e.g., operational and business unit reporting), business intelligence, data mining, consolidations, transaction processing, and other business processes.

“The benefits of XBRL go far beyond external financial reporting and into the untapped needs of the business community,” said Kim Wallin, chair of the IMA XBRL Advisory Committee, and state controller of Nevada. “Our committee is also focused on the internal information needs of CEOs, CFOs, and controllers as they seek the tools and technologies that enable them to make better-informed decisions in real-time. XBRL helps them achieve that goal, and we will focus on driving XBRL throughout the enterprise, from general ledger transactions to top-level management reporting.”

IMA’s XBRL Advisory Committee has two working groups, including an Outreach Working Group that manages internal advocacy and outreach about XBRL and provides communications to IMA members and other stakeholders. The group will work toward building strategic partnerships with other organizations around the world.

Separately, the American Institute of CPAs has released a history of XBRL, “The Story of Our New Language,” dating back to 1998 when a CPA, Charlie Hoffman, is credited with originating the technology.