Financial Accounting Foundation to Maintain XBRL Taxonomy for U.S. GAAP

The Financial Accouting Foundation has released a new item:

Norwalk, CT, February 5, 2010—The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) today announced its new responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy applicable to public issuers registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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. Today’s announcement is the culmination of several months of discussions between the FAF and the staff of the SEC. 

The U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy is a list of computer-readable tags in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) that allows companies to label precisely the thousands of pieces of financial data that are included in typical long-form financial statements and related footnote disclosures. The tags allow computers to automatically search for and assemble data so it can be readily accessed and analyzed by investors, analysts, journalists, and the SEC staff. 

Read more of this press release here.