XBRL US developed the US GAAP digital dictionary of required disclosures and common reporting practices under contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The SEC mandated the use of XBRL for public company reporting and other reporting applications:

1. Public Company Reporting – all public companies must file in XBRL format; companies with worldwide public float greater than $5 billion to comply first starting with period ending June 2009; all other large accelerated filers to comply next starting with period ending June 2010; all other public companies comply with period ending June 2011.
   
    
2. Risk Return Summary portion of Mutual Fund Prospectus – mutual funds must begin publishing the risk return summary portion of their prospectuses in XBRL format starting January 1, 2011.
   
    
3. Credit rating agencies – must begin reporting all ratings actions (initial rating, upgrades, downgrades, etc.) in XBRL format starting in August 2009 (180 days after publishing in Federal register). 

The SEC and XBRL US has resources available to help public company preparers get educated, identify tools and resources to tag their financials and create their own XBRL-formatted financials.