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In 1997 Charlie Hoffman, a CPA with a passion for technology,
read a book about XML and saw how other industries were
applying this technology to their businesses, and he
set out to discovery how it could be implemented for
financial statements. As a CPA with the firm Knight,
Vale and Gregory in Tacoma, Washington, Charlie investigated
how XML could be used for electronic reporting of financial
information. In April of that year, Charlie began developing
prototypes of financial statements and audit schedules
using XML.
In his first foray into XML development, Charlie created
an XML program for one of his accounting firm's clients
who wanted to automate the transfer of product pricing
information in their accounting system to their website.
He accomplished this by extracting information from
a Great Plains inventory module that automatically posted
the product pricing information to the client's product
catalog on their website.
In July of 1998, Mr. Hoffman informed the AICPA High
Tech Task Force about the potential of using XML in
financial reporting. In December of 1998, a prototype
was completed by Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Mark Jewett of
Erutech. Jeffery Ricker of XML Solutions also contributed
to the initial XML prototype named XFMRL (Extensible
Financial Reporting Markup Language). The AICPA and
the Knight, Vale and Gregory underwrote the development
cost of this initial prototype.
In June of 1999, Charles Hoffman, Wayne Harding of Great
Plains Software, Eric Cohen of Cohen Computer Consulting,
and Louis Matherne, AICPA Director of Information Technology
created a business plan for XML-based financial statements,
originally code named XFRML.
Mr. Hoffman created and completed the first XBRL prototype
in October 13, 1999. The financial statements of 10
companies were used to further test the concept of XML-based
financial statements. And the first XBRL Steering Committee
is held in New York City.
In August of 1999, the AICPA established a self-funded,
non-profit group called XBRL.org to oversee the implementation
of the new language. XBRL is now recognized as the worldwide
de facto digital business reporting standard designed
to address challenges and inefficiencies facing modern
markets. Many of the world's leading accounting and
financial reporting entities and major institutional
entities are helping to build and are adopting XBRL
as the standard for business reporting. The XBRL Consortium,
http://www.xbrl.com has membership of over 200 organizations:
standards bodies, regulators, accounting and consulting
firms and technology providers; including AICPA, International
Accounting Standards Board (IAS), US FDIC, Australian
Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), Australian Tax
Office (ATO), UK Inland Revenue, UK Financial Services
Authority (FSA), PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, KPMG, Ernst
and Young, Deloitte Touche, Unisys, Microsoft, IBM,
Oracle, Software AG, Morgan Stanley, Sumitomo-Mitsui
Banking Corp., NEC, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America,
Hitachi, Fujitsu, Moody's KV, Reuters, Korean Stock
Exchange (KOSDAQ), Tokyo Stock Exchange and UBmatrix.
In 2000, XBRL Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in the
state of Washington to bring XBRL software solutions
and services to the marketplace, including a first XBRL
Taxonomy Builder application to support the development
of XBRL taxonomies around the world.
In June of 2001, XBRL announces that its taxonomy had
been modified to reflect W3C recommendations so that
all XML efforts can be consistent and use common software
tools. The same year "XBRL Essentials," written
by Charlie, is published providing CPAs with an introduction
to XBRL and its potential uses.
In June 2002, UBmatrix purchased the assets of XBRL
Solutions, Inc. and Mr. Hoffman joined UBmatrix as Director
of Innovative Solutions.
In November of 2002, Charlie presented a detailed description
of the Novartis Instance Document, the first deeply
tagged financial statement in the world to use the new
IAS taxonomies. At that time, the Tokyo Stock Exchange
announced that their disclosure network, TDNET, will
provide the first page (the financial summary items)
of "Tanshin" annual filings in XBRL during
the 2nd Quarter of 2003.
In June of 2003, the Federal Financial Institutions
Examination Council (FFIEC) announced the first step
in an interagency effort to modernize and streamline
how federal bank regulators collect, process and distribute
quarterly bank financial reports. This project followed
in line with the initial FDIC prototypes for the system
that were developed by XBRL Solutions, Inc. and KPMG
LLP in 2001 and 2002.
The FFIEC Call Report Modernization project that leverages
XBRL was awarded to Unisys Corporation and its team
of of Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IDOM, EDGAR
Online, UBmatrix, and V-Tech Solutions.
The new business process, which will be phased in through
2005, will consolidate the collection, editing, and
access of quarterly bank financial reports into a central
data repository, which will be accessible by banking
regulators, financial institutions, and the public.
The new model is also expected to reduce burden on the
industry, while providing data to the public in a more
timely and flexible manner.
NEC selects UBmatrix for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking for
Global e-Trade Services.
In October of 2003, KOSDAQ Stock Market, UBmatrix, Samil
Accounting Firm (a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers)
announced an innovative Web-based XBRL service designed
to increase the value of data information with unparalleled
data transparency.
Through this innovative offering, investors, regulators
and financial institutions world-wide are able to quickly
and accurately measure the performance of companies
who are listed on the KOSDAQ exchange.
Today, XBRL is being adopted around the globe by the
business community which sees the opportunity to transform
the way it communicates and conducts business. XBRL
projects are being implemented around the world.
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