New technology standard to enhance corporate reporting transparency

    XBRL Canada and XBRL International officially acknowledge the taxonomy

    TORONTO, Dec. 2 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada today announced a major step in the
Canadian market to improve transparency of corporate reporting.
    XBRL Canada has released a Canadian taxonomy (a bilingual dictionary of
accounting terms) for Canadian public companies to use under the emerging
global business e-reporting standard called XBRL (eXtensible Business
Reporting Language). XBRL International has now acknowledged this new
taxonomy. Acknowledgement means that it is compliant with the current version
2.1 of the standard.
    XBRL is a royalty free, XML based data standard for exchanging business
information. XBRL software will enable investors and analysts to better
understand and investigate financial data, which should lead to greater
transparency of such information. It will significantly reduce the time needed
to locate and enter business information, leaving more time for analysis and
comparison. In a nutshell, XBRL is an XML-based framework that assists
organizations to prepare, publish and analyze financial information; using XML
data tags to describe financials.
    This Canadian taxonomy covers Primary Financial Statements issued in
accordance with Canadian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). The
taxonomy will be published on www.xbrl.org, the XBRL International website and
on www.xbrl.ca, the XBRL Canada web site, both important resources to help
implement XBRL
    "XBRL is gaining momentum on a worldwide basis," said Paul Johanis of
Statistics Canada, Chair of XBRL Canada. "Regulators and government agencies
worldwide are preparing to accept regulatory filings in XBRL format and many
software developers are building XBRL applications to go to market." He added,
"They are adopting XBRL in Europe and in the far east; In the US, the SEC is
adopting a voluntary XBRL filing program, and a major project to implement
XBRL is underway at the FDIC."
    William Swirsky of the CICA, vice chair says: "Now that the Canadian
taxonomy is finalized, XBRL Canada will lead efforts to educate all players in
the corporate reporting supply chain, including software vendors, accounting
firms, public companies, governments, news wires, data vendors and the
financial community." Johanis says: "XBRL Canada must now focus on adoption.
We must demonstrate to Canadian corporations, regulators and government
agencies how using XBRL will be advantageous and cost effective for them and
get them to develop implementation plans. We are having a workshop in Toronto
on December 14 as part of this new focus."

    XBRL Canada is a not-for-profit consortium of leading Canadian companies,
federal government agencies and other organizations. It is part of a worldwide
consortium, which is creating a standardized method for business reporting in
an effort to improve transparency and collaboration. The development of XBRL
standards in Canada has been spearheaded by XBRL Canada of which the Canadian
Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) is the lead member.
    To learn more about XBRL or upcoming events, including the workshop on
December 14, or to become a member of XBRL Canada, please refer to
www.xbrl.ca.

For further information: For interviews and media enquiries please 
contact: Thomas R Taylor, CA, Project Director, XBRL Canada, Canadian 
Institute of Chartered Accountants, Tel: (416) 204-3293, 
tom.taylor@cica.ca