Welcome to XBRL

1998
	April - XBRL is Conceived
		Charles Hoffman, a CPA with the firm Knight Vale and Gregory in Tacoma, Washington, investigates how XML could be used for electronic reporting of financial information. Charlie begins developing prototypes of financial statements and audit schedules using XML.

	July - AICPA is Alerted
		Charlie Hoffman informs the AICPA High Tech Task Force about the potential of using XML in financial reporting.

	September - Product Description Crafted
		The AICPA High Tech Task Force creates a Product Description proposing the creation of a prototype set of financial statements using XML. AICPA staff and members of the High Tech Task Force help perfect this product description.

	October - Prototype Project Funded
		The High Tech Task Force reports results to the AICPA Committee on Committee Organization. The AICPA decides to fund a project to create a prototype set of financial statements in XML.

	December - Prototype Completed
		The prototype is completed by Charlie Hoffman and Mark Jewett (Erutech). Jeffery Ricker (XML Solutions) contributes to the initial prototype. The AICPA and the CPA firm Knight, Vale and Gregory underwrote the development cost of this initial prototype.

1999
	January - Prototype is Presented to the AICPA
		The AICPA agrees that XBRL is important to the accounting profession.

	June - Business Plan Created
		Charles Hoffman, Wayne Harding of Great Plains Software, Eric Cohen of Cohen Computer Consulting, and Louis Matherne, AICPA Director of Information Technology create a business plan for XML-based financial statements, originally code named XFRML.

	July - Funding Granted
		The AICPA Board of Directors agree to fund the XBRL effort.

	July - Experimental Prototype Created
		Created by Charlie Hoffman, the XBRL prototype is completed on October 13, 1999. The financial statements of 10 companies are used to further test the concept of XML-based financial statements.

	August - Steering Committee Formed
		Twelve companies quickly join the effort (along with the AICPA) as members of the XBRL Steering Committee. The initial steering committee includes: The AICPA, Arthur Andersen LLP, Deloitte & Touche LLP, e-content company, Ernst & Young LLP, FreeEDGAR.com, Inc. (now Edgar Online, Inc.), FRx Software Corporation, Great Plains, KPMG LLP, Cohen Computer Consulting, Microsoft Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and The Woodburn Group.

	August - Specification Announced
		The AICPA begins implementing the business plan when it makes a public press announcement that an XML financial reporting specification will be created.

	October - AICPA Hosts First Meeting
		The first meeting of the XBRL Steering Committee takes place in the offices of the AICPA in New York City. At this meeting, the development begins on the first taxonomy: XBRL for Financial Statements for the Commercial and Industrial Sector, which represents about 80% of all publicly-traded U.S. companies.

2000
	April - First Press Conference Held
		The new brand for the technology, XBRL, is unveiled during the first XBRL press conference held at the midtown offices of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York City.

	July - Spec 1.0 Released
		XBRL releases the first XBRL specification for financial statements for commercial and industrial companies in the United States. The committee announces the formation of an international organization to position for rapid global expansion and adoption.

	August - XML Hits Prime Time
		Bill Gates declares XML to be the next revolution on the Internet and announces the .net strategy, which includes XML tools in upcoming Microsoft products.

	October - Further Development Recommended by SEC Chairman
		Arthur Levitt, then Chairman of the SEC, acknowledges XBRL and recommends its further development at the Fall AICPA Council in Las Vegas.

2001
	February - 1st XBRL International Conference in London
		XBRL holds its first international meeting in London. Representatives from 10 countries attend the first meeting. XBRL announces that the International Accounting Standards Board has released a draft of an IAS taxonomy for review. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales announces the formation of a working group to develop a UK version of the XBRL taxonomy. Morgan Stanley announces that it has tagged its financials, sent information to the SEC in XBRL format and posted them to its web site. XBRL now has 85 members. FDIC joins XBRL.

	June - 2nd XBRL International Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
		XBRL International announces that membership climbs to 100 at the second international conference.

	June - XBRL Aligns with W3C
		XBRL announces that its specification has been modified to reflect W3C recommendations so that all XML efforts can be consistent and use common software tools. "XBRL Essentials", by Charlie Hoffman, is published, providing CPAs with anintroduction to XBRL and its potential uses. Membership of XBRL climbs to 100.

	June - XBRL Takes on the GL
		XBRL announces development effort to create XBRL for General Ledger to allow tagged data to be moved into and out of the general ledger. This will serve as a bridge between business reporting and transaction reporting.

	October - 3rd XBRL International Conference in Sydney, Australia
		XBRL International holds its 3rd International Conference in Sydney, Australia the week of 22 October 2001. Attendance is strong with over 120 experts present from a dozen countries.

	October - XBRL Jurisdictions are Formed
		XBRL Australia, XBRL Canada, XBRL Germany, XBRL IASB, XBRL Japan, XBRL-Netherlands, and XBRL-UK form the first jurisdictions to support the development of XBRL.

	November - Federal Agencies Laud XBRL
		The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) composed of key U.S. Government agencies recommends use of XBRL for government use.

	December - XBRL 2.0 Hits the Streets
		XBRL finalises the Enhanced XML Schema-Based Specification for Global Business Reporting on December 21. This release implements the new World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML Schema Recommendation and utilises other new technologies such as XML Linking.

	December - XBRL is Piloted in Banking Industry
		Bank of America successfully pilots XBRL using real client information. XBRL software vendors develop tools to convert financial data from QuickBooks to XBRL to allow financial service companies to provide faster credit analysis. Membership grows to 130 companies and international organizations.

2002
	February - First Bank Regulator to Adopt and Use XBRL
		The Australian Prudential Regulatory Agency (APRA), one of the world’s largest regulatory agencies, announces that XBRL is being used to overhaul data collection from 11,000 super funds, insurers and banks required to report to it on a regular basis. Moreover, APRA is also forwarding aggregate data in XBRL to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Reserve Bank of Australia. This will reduce their data processing efforts and eliminate duplication of effort for companies required to report to all three organizations. APRA is the first regulator in the world to adopt and begin use of this new, revolutionary e-business XML-based language.

	March - High Tech Company Reports in XBRL
		Microsoft becomes the first technology company to report financials in XBRL.

	March - 4th XBRL International Conference in Berlin, Germany
		XBRL International holds its fourth international conference in Berlin.

	June - 5th XBRL International Conference in Toronto, Canada
		With representatives from more than 13 countries attending, Sam DiPiazza, CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, announces, "XBRL, along with a new global set of standards and guidelines for accounting, could help restore public confidence in stock markets. XBRL will …help to level the playing field for all investors and stakeholders."

	July - XBRL Provides Remote Access to Financial Data
		Nasdaq, Microsoft, and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced the launch of a new pilot program to provide investors with remote access to financial data from five years of financial reports for 21 Nasdaq-listed companies. The data, which is formatted in XBRL and publicly available via a Nasdaq-hosted Web Service, will showcase the ability of XBRL to allow for easy comparisons of the financials of companies within a particular industry, like semiconductors.

	August - New Zealand Jurisdiction Established
		XBRL New Zealand becomes the sixth XBRL jurisdiction.

	November - 6th XBRL International Conference in Tokyo, Japan
		Highlights of the Tokyo conference from 11 - 15 November 2002 included announcements by the Japanese Tax Agency and Tokyo Stock Exchange of plans to adopt XBRL, a focussed effort by the Domain Working Group to define key issues requiring resolution in order to simplify implementation of XBRL, and the formation of the Credit Risk Assessment Services Working Group. There was broad praise from the 260 attendees for the excellent organisation of the conference by XBRL Japan. Charlie Hoffman of UBmatrix gave a detailed description of the Novartis Instance Document, the first deeply tagged financial statement in the world to use the new IAS taxonomies. The Tokyo Stock Exchange announced that their disclosure network, TDNET, would provide the first page (the financial summary items) of "Tanshin" annual filings in XBRL during the 2nd Quarter of 2003. The Japanese National Tax Agency (Zeimusho) announced they would begin accepting XBRL formatted electronic tax filings in 2003.

2003
	May - 7th XBRL International Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands
		The Amsterdam conference from 19 to 22 May emphasised the progress being made in adoption of XBRL around the world. A range of regulatory bodies set out their plans for using XBRL. The conference also provided an opportunity for key XBRL groups from Banking to Technical Specification to advance their work. The conference was attended by 260 people from 21 countries. Regulatory bodies announcements included: The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is completing a set of draft taxonomies that will be used as part of a major contract to be awarded this June to process quarterly Call Reports from over 8,400 US banks. The UK Inland Revenue is pressing ahead with its plans for filing of Corporation Tax using XBRL. The Dutch Tax Authority, Central Bank and Bureau of Statistics outlined their interests and commitments on XBRL. The Danish Commerce and Companies Agency unveiled its XBRL-enabled online companies registry.

	November - 8th XBRL International Conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S.
		The conference from 3-7 November 2003, entitled XBRL in USE: "Tools, Technologies & Solutions", attracted more than 280 participants from 19 different countries. It saw the announcement of a range of new projects to use XBRL, notably from Stock Exchanges, progress towards the completion of the new 2.1 Specification, and a number of new XBRL products from member companies.

	December - XBRL 2.1 Specification Reaches Recommendation Status
		XBRL International releases the XBRL 2.1 Specification. This new release clarifies and enhances the way in which software can handle XBRL-tagged data.

	December - XBRL 2.1 Conformance Suite Released
		XBRL International issues a Public Working Draft of the XBRL 2.1 Conformance suite. The conformance suite provides more than 200 tests to verify that applications process XBRL 2.1 documents correctly.

	December - Financial Reporting Taxonomies Architecture (FRTA) 1.0
		The Financial Reporting Taxonomies Architecture (FRTA) 1.0 is released as a candidate recommendation. FRTA provides guidelines for the effective creation and use of taxonomies. It sets out a recommended design architecture and establishes rules and conventions both for taxonomies and their corresponding instance documents.

2004
	January - First Canadian Company to Publish Results in XBRL
		TSX Group Inc. (TSX Group) becomes the first Canadian public company, as well as the first publicly-listed stock exchange globally, to publish its annual financial results in XBRL.

	March - New Jurisdictions Established
		XBRL Ireland and XBRL Spain join XBRL International as established jurisdictions. This brings the total to 9 established jurisdictions.

	May - 9th XBRL International Conference in Auckland, New Zealand
		The five-day conference, which attracted more 190 delegates, including 130 from overseas, focussed on the benefits for implementation of the new XBRL specification, with a range of software vendors demonstrating the power and flexibility of their products.

	May - XBRL-UK releases taxonomy for UK GAAP
		The UK jurisdiction of XBRL International has released a new taxonomy for UK GAAP which is based on version 2.1 of the XBRL specification. The taxonomy has been given Acknowledged status by XBRL International.

	July - SEC to Assess Benefits of XBRL-Tagged Data in Commission Filings
		The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announces programme to assess the benefits of data tagged with XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language). XBRL-US says it is confident that the programme will demonstrate that adoption of XBRL will bring broad benefits.

	August - Updated and expanded Taxonomy Guidance issued
		XBRL issues an updated and expanded Candidate Recommendation for the design of taxonomies for financial reporting. The Financial Reporting Taxonomies Architecture (FRTA) 1.0 now enters its final stage of public review before becoming a formal XBRL Recommendation.

	September - XBRL-US unveils new taxonomies for US GAAP
		XBRL-US unveils new tags for US GAAP at a meeting attended by the SEC, FASB, investors and leading company representatives.

	October - OECD recommends XBRL for tax use
		OECD Tax Payer Services Subgroup unanimously adopts OASIS XML Position Paper recommending "XBRL as a central standard for exchange of business/financial information for tax purposes".

	November - 10th XBRL International Conference in Brussels, Belgium
		The five-day conference, themed "Financial reporting goes global: XBRL and IFRS working together,” attracted more 450 delegates from thirty countries worldwide and focused on the benefits of XBRL for anyone involved in compiling, analysing or transmitting financial information electronically.

	December - Canada releases new GAAP taxonomy
		XBRL Canada takes a major step to improve transparency of corporate reporting with the release of a new Canadian taxonomy. XBRL International has formally acknowledged the taxonomy, confirming that it is compliant with the latest version 2.1 of the standard.

2005
	February - SEC establishes a voluntary programme for XBRL filing
		The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopts rules establishing a voluntary programme for reporting of financial information on EDGAR using XBRL. The primary purpose of the programme is to assess XBRL technology.

	April - XBRL issues taxonomy guidance and other key technical documents
		XBRL International has approved and published a range of key documents, including a recommended version of the Financial Reporting Taxonomies Architecture (FRTA) which governs the design of taxonomies for financial reporting.

	April - 11th XBRL International Conference - Boston, US
		The four-day conference themed "Better, Faster, Smarter Business Reporting Using XBRL" focused on the ways that XBRL improves the business reporting process and demonstrate the advantages of using XBRL to preparers, regulators, and analysts. As evidence of the maturing of this technology, the conference included live demos of real products providing real solutions using XBRL.

	May - XBRL jurisdiction set up in France
		A group of major organisations set up XBRL France as a provisional jurisdiction, with the aim of adapting, developing and supporting the use of XBRL in France.

	May - IASCF releases final version of IFRS-General Purpose taxonomy
		The taxonomy represents IFRS general purpose financial reporting by profit-oriented entities. This is based on the 2004 IFRS bound volume and incorporates additional requirements for banks and similar financial institutions. It was Acknowledged by XBRL International on Tuesday 31 May, confirming it is fully compliant with the XBRL specification.

	June - European banking supervisors reveal plans for reporting using XBRL
		London Conference discusses requirements, promises and challenges of deployment of XBRL for regulatory reporting by the banking industry in Europe.

	July - XBRL International publishes new GL taxonomy
		XBRL International has released a new version of its GL taxonomy – the taxonomy which allows the efficient handling of financial and business information contained within an organisation.

	July - XBRL International publishes draft Dimensional Taxonomy Spec
		The Dimensions 1.0 Specification is a modular, optional extension to XBRL allowing taxonomy authors to define and restrict dimensional information. A typical example of its use is the ability to define region and product dimensions for basic elements such as sales – although its potential uses go far beyond this simple case. It provides an important extension of the ability of XBRL to represent easily and efficiently the dimensional information which exists in business reporting.

	July - Japan publishes XBRL specification as official industrial standard
		The XBRL 2.1 Specification was published on 20 July 2005 in one of the Japanese Government-authorized publications as an official Japanese Industrial Standard. This will serve as a rationale for government departments and other authoritative organizations to adopt XBRL.

	July - Spanish Stock Exchange begins use of XBRL
		The Spanish Stock Exchange began on 1 July 2005 to use XBRL for receiving and distributing public financial reports from listed companies.

	July - CSO creates first live implementation of XBRL in Ireland
		The Central Statistics Office (CSO) Ireland has successfully piloted the use of XBRL in one of its quarterly industry surveys, creating the first live implementation of XBRL in Ireland. Fujitsu Software Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers worked with the CSO in developing this solution.

	August - U.S. SEC extends voluntary XBRL filing to Investment Companies
		The Securities and Exchange Commission has expanded its XBRL voluntary filing program begun in April to allow mutual funds to file certain reports in XBRL. The SEC said this was a significant step towards the collection and evaluation of XBRL data.

	August - US Conference on 'XBRL in Government and Industry'
		US Government agencies report their interest in using XBRL -- including the FDIC, which says its XBRL project on bank call reports which goes live on 1 October 2005 will permit their analysts to access important bank information in a matter of seconds rather than hours or days.

	September - XBRL in use in China
		XBRL International has granted Acknowledged status to taxonomies being used for company reporting in China – confirming the taxonomies meet XBRL standards and underlining the fast progress being made in China with the use of XBRL. More than 800 companies used the taxonomies, developed by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, for handling their 2005 half-year reports.

	October - SEC requests software industry's input on interactive data
		The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released a Request for Information (RFI) to the software industry concerning interactive financial data, as it continues to explore the use of XBRL. XBRL-US strongly supports the SEC request.

	October - South Korean financial supervisor adopts XBRL for company data
		South Korea's top financial watchdog said Wednesday it will make it easier for foreign investors to view English-language versions of South Korean companies' financial reports by adopting the use of XBRL for companies' financial reports.