Welcome XBRL Finland

(3 May 2012, Helsinki) – XBRL International (XII) today announced that XBRL Finland, a joint venture of key public and private organizations aimed at raising awareness of the XBRL standard (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) in Finland has been granted Provisional Jurisdiction status. By naming XBRL Finland as a Jurisdiction, XII is recognizing the group as Finland’s representative to the global consortium that maintains the XBRL standard and supports the adoption of this business reporting standard.

“XII is pleased to welcome Finland to the community of financial, business and technology leaders that are responsible for XBRL – the world’s leading language for the sharing of business information,” said Anthony Fragnito, CEO of XBRL International. “Finland has long been a technology leader and a pioneer in areas such as e-invoicing. XII’s efforts to further the global adoption of XBRL will benefit from their expertise and insight.”

The authorities related to financial reporting (National Board of Patents and Registration, Tax Administration, Federation of Finnish Financial Services) have recognized the value and possibilities of XBRL. They perceive the XBRL standard very positively and also as necessary to secure the competiveness of Finnish companies. “The main task of the National Board of Patents and Registration is to maintain and supply accurate and timely information about the Finnish companies to different stakeholders. The nationwide adoption of XBRL in Finland will bring significant improvements to the quality of the reports and also substantially speed up the processing time of the financial reports thus providing more timely information for the end users.” summarizes Olli Koikkalainen from the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland.

“XBRL Finland shows that with a strong vision and the right business case it is possible to mobilize key stakeholders in financial reporting to join forces to support the adoption of XBRL,” states Dave van den Ende, chairman of XII’s Membership Development Committee.

XBRL Finland’s key objective for the coming year of will be to create the taxonomy for financial statements according to Finnish GAAP (FAS, Finnish Accounting Standards). After that, the FAS taxonomy will be tested and arrangements will be made with regulatory authorities to start receiving financial reports in XBRL. The goal is begin XBRL filings in 2014. Other activities for XBRL Finland will be to raise awareness about XBRL, educating different stakeholders and acting as a link between XBRL International and developments throughout the Nordic Region.

“We are very excited to have been able to gather together all the central organizations regarding business reporting to our consortium. Joint work to initiate XBRL reporting in Finland has already started and the work is progressing at a good pace,” stated Elina Koskentalo and Esko Penttinen from XBRL Finland.

About XBRL Finland
XBRL Finland is a joint venture of key public and private organizations. Aalto University is the host organization for XBRL Finland consortium and the founding members are: National Board of Patents and Registration, Tax Administration, Federation of Finnish Financial Services, Association of Finnish Accounting Firms, Aalto University, KPMG, PwC, Tieto, Aditro, Asiakastieto, Kauppalehti Tietopalvelut (Balance Consulting), Finnish Information Society Development Centre, Åbo Akademi, Hanken, IBM Finland and Deloitte.