The goal of this conference, themed "XBRL: Linking Businesses, Public Regulators & Citizens", is to foster understanding of the benefits that interactive data can bring in terms of transparency and efficiency of communications among market players, regulators and citizens around the world. The agenda will consider the many ways XBRL can meet these objectives and connect the public and private sectors of global finance and business reporting. Keynote speakers will explore how XBRL data reduces the reporting burden, leads to better regulation and disclosure and facilitates risk management and assurance. Track Sessions will support this theme through detailed case studies which demonstrate how XBRL is used by business registries, tax agencies, banking and capital markets to improve transparency, efficiency and ultimately, to build public trust. The conference, produced by XBRL International, is hosted by XBRL Italy in cooperation with XBRL Europe and will take place at the Sheraton Conference centre in Rome.

Learn more about the program and register: http://conference.xbrl.org/

Save the date for XBRL Essentials, SEC Filer Training Workshops coming up in 2010. The first workshop will be held March 11, in New York City with subsequent sessions held late May in New York City, September in San Francisco, and November in Philadelphia. These one-day, in-person sessions will be taught by seasoned XBRL professionals intimately familiar with the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy. The program will give financial reporting managers the tools they need to understand the taxonomy, create XBRL-formatted financial statements, do block tagging and detailed tagging of footnotes.

2010 Schedule:

• Thursday, March 11 - New York City
• Wednesday, May 26 - New York City
• Thursday, September 16 - San Francisco
• November - Philadelphia

Learn more and register: http://xbrl.us/events/pages/training.aspx

XBRL US continues its ongoing series of free live webinars designed to help companies implement XBRL reporting. The program includes key steps, decisions and considerations for implementing XBRL, an overview of the SEC rule that requires XBRL for public company reporting, how to use a taxonomy, how to create XBRL-formatted financial statements and lessons learned from SEC filings submitted to date. The next webinar will be held on March 17, 2010.

Register for upcoming webinars: http://xbrl.us/events/Pages/current.aspx

As XBRL for US GAAP Financial Reporting moves from development to maintenance, the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) recently announced that it will take on the responsibility for ongoing maintenance of the US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy. The 2009 taxonomy currently in use by SEC issuers was developed by XBRL US. The FAF and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will assemble a small team of technical staff dedicated to maintaining the taxonomy and will work towards the release of the next taxonomy update in early 2011.

Read the FAF release:
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=FASBContent_C&pagename=FASB%2FFASBContent_C%2FNewsPage&cid=1176156637595

Securities and Exchange Commission staff will conduct a public seminar next month to help companies and preparers comply with rules that require financial reports to be filed using XBRL. The seminar will help answer frequently asked questions about the rules and technology requirements. SEC staff will present information to help corporate filers understand how to comply with the rules. SEC staff also will provide an overview of the XBRL taxonomy - the list of tags associated with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP). Staff also will discuss the recently announced role of the Financial Accounting Foundation in maintaining that taxonomy in conjunction with its GAAP standard-setting activities. SEC staff will provide guidance on other tools and information available to assist with compliance.

The seminar will be held on March 23 beginning at 1 p.m. ET in the auditorium at the SEC's headquarters (100 F Street N.E. in Washington D.C.). The event also will be webcast on the SEC Web site. For additional information about the seminar, contact Ask-OID@sec.gov or (202) 551-4144.

Read the press release: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-25.htm

Public companies are heeding the advice to "start early" in preparing for XBRL adoption, according to a survey XBRL US conducted jointly with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The survey found that 73% of respondents that plan to file their financial statements in XBRL are actively preparing to do so, and the majority of companies surveyed - 93 % - had at least a basic knowledge of XBRL. The survey also found that preparation time for creating XBRL-formatted financial statements decreases dramatically after the first filing, according to respondents who have prepared multiple XBRL financials:

• 57% said it took them over 120 hours to complete their first submission; 64% of those that filed a second time around said it took less than 40 hours
• 45% of those that filed a second time said it was significantly easier the second time

Respondents noted that the most challenging part of the process was mapping/tag selection (15%), getting educated (10%), and validation (9%). The XBRL Preparedness Survey was conducted via an online questionnaire from November 4 to November 29, 2009 and included over 200 respondents from U.S. public companies. Key findings from the survey and the full results are available at http://xbrl.us/News/Pages/20100114.aspx