SEC AIMS AT BALANCE SHEET 'WINDOW-DRESSING'
Washington, D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to propose requiring public companies to disclose more information about their short-term borrowing arrangements.
The proposal aims to shed more light on the short-term borrowing practices of companies, including what some refer to as balance-sheet "window-dressing." The proposed rules (Release Nos. 33-9143; 34-62932) are aimed to enable investors to better understand whether amounts of short-term borrowings reported at the end of reporting periods are consistent with amounts outstanding throughout the reporting periods.
Many financial institutions and other companies engage in short-term borrowing to fund their operations. The arrangements can range from commercial paper and repurchase agreements, to letters of credit, promissory notes and factoring. They generally mature in a year or less.
The additional disclosure would be presented in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section of a company's quarterly and annual reports.
The SEC also voted to issue an interpretive release that will provide guidance about existing requirements for MD&A disclosure about liquidity and funding.
EDGAR ONLINE RELEASES NEW XBRL DATASET
New York - EDGAR Online Inc. has released its I-Metrix "As Reported" XBRL Dataset, which includes all the information contained in every Form 10-K and 10-Q document furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Extensible Business Reporting Language.
The new dataset and associated analytical tools are designed to hide the complexity of XBRL, making it easy for users to access all information without having to search through filed documents.
The I-Metrix "As Reported" XBRL Dataset includes more than 1,700 U.S. public companies and includes detailed information from the footnotes of the largest 500.
For more, visit www.edgar-online.com.
