1. XBRL is not programming - True

XBRL tags content (financial data) in an open format that makes transporting, storing, and sharing data very easy because it is an open standard, well documented, and structured. Sometimes this documented structure is referred to as a “taxonomy”.

2. XBRL is hard for [most] humans to read - True

XBRL is an implementation of XML. Why should this matter to you? It really shouldn’t. XBRL is not meant for humans to read like the morning paper; it is meant to be created (generated most likely) and consumed by tools that make your analysis easier and more flexible. When an issuer posts XBRL to their website (which is good) they should also offer a human readable version as well. Tools and viewers will make both these tasks very easy.

3. XBRL is going to make reporting hard and expensive - False

Millions of research and implementation dollars and years of planning and organizing will be realized to the vast majority as tools become available. These tools will come from accounting software packages; analysts; subject matter specialists, commercial tool providers, open source, hobbyists, designers, industry leaders, grass roots organizations, exchanges, etc. You have to remember that XBRL maps to the way you do things now and that this format provides new opportunity for every issuer to attract analysts.

4. Buyers/analysts don’t need to be educated about XBRL - False

Even though XBRL is a technical specification buyers/analysts need to be educated of the benefits it provides. Files will be “transmitted/ loaded/ installed/ exported/ imported/ downloaded/ programmed/ beamed” in and out of tools that offer perspectives of data that just wasn’t there before. Wide adoption will be as fast as the clients’ understanding of the tools that expose the benefits of XBRL so that a new class of tools can be easily recognized.

5. XBRL is an Internet-Language - False

XBRL is a reporting language made for computers to consume. The fact that many, or even most, types of electronic transmissions happen over the internet shouldn’t be confused with its purpose - which is the cheaper, easier, standardized, equal opportunity for financial disclosure.

[edited: October 5, 2006]
Now you are ready to read articles like this: The Good and Bad About XBRL’s Future

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2. Canadian securities regulators launch XBRL voluntary filing program
3. XBRL extension to bring structured data to Disclosure
4. Discover the Power of Interactive Data
5. SEC goes ahead with mandating XBRL