NEC Corporation (NEC) (NASDAQ: NIPNY, FTSE: 6701q.l, TSE: 6701) announced today that it will deliver Japan's first online XBRL -based (Note 1) foreign exchange trade system to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). The new system called "Global e-Trade Service" was developed by NEC and will increase speed and efficiency of foreign exchange trade-related financial services offered by SMBC by digitalizing all documents and business processes, including the issuing of letters of credit (L/C) and bills of lading (B/L). The "Global e-Trade Service" solution developed for use by global trading companies, international banks and shipping companies will be introduced in March 2003.

XBRL promises to bring a little context to numbers. And yes, that's a good thing.

Two-thirds of accounting software vendors have either already implemented XBRL into one of their accounting software packages or will do so by December 2004, according to the results of XBRL-US software vendor survey.

You could say that PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant Walter Hamscher began his work with the XML standards consortium XBRL International more than a few years ago while he was working on his PhD in computer science at MIT.

A few months ago, SmartPros conducted an online poll of its readers asking them to rate their knowledge of XBRL. Despite the significant amount of press that the emerging technology has received in the financial world, just three percent reported a strong level of understanding. And the overwhelming majority -- 69 percent -- admitted they had no knowledge of XBRL.

XBRL -- eXtensible business reporting language -- the Internet-based computer language for business reporting, has steadily gained visibility and momentum over the past two years. While it's still regarded by many as a back-office technology best left to computer geeks who understand taxonomies, schemas, mark-up language and all that jargon, XBRL is poised to revolutionize business reporting -- and in the process, upset the delicate balance characterizing today's corporate reporting supply chain.

A new way of communicating financial data promises to make auditing more efficient, speed up the small business loan processing, make it easier for financial planners to track client investments and cut down on the work required to convert from one accounting software package to another. Say hello to XBRL, a software tool coming soon to an accounting program near you.

Time to learn another acronym. Later this month a new version of xBRL, a subset of the XML Internet language intended to standardize how financial data is shared among Web-based applications, will be released. Leading makers of accounting software say they will incorporate xBRL-tagging capabilities into their products by the end of the year. This will go a long way toward transforming xBRL from a promising concept to a useful reality, but experts caution it will be several years before the code reaches its full potential. Until then, companies that want to exchange and analyze financial data over the Internet must continue to rekey or repackage much of it.

EXTENSIBLE business reporting language (XBRL) could well be the greatest innovation in accounting since Italian mathematician Pacioli pioneered double-entry bookkeeping more than 500 years ago. Perhaps more extraordinary than XBRL's development is how this standard for transferring financial information came to exist.

Extensible Business Reporting Language, formerly code-named Financial Reporting Markup Language, is a freely available electronic language for financial reporting. It is based on the industry standard Extensible Markup Language (XML). The XBRL framework provides the financial community with a standards-based method to prepare, publish in a variety of formats, reliably extract and automatically exchange financial statements and the information they contain. XBRL is not about establishing new accounting standards but enhancing the usability of the current ones in an electronic commerce environment.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) has been described as the universal business language, but so far, it's about as oft-spoken as Latin. In essence, XBRL brings context to numbers by tagging financial data points with information about that data, in effect standardizing it. The idea: to enable businesses to prepare, exchange, and analyze financial statements and the information they contain.

The adoption of the recently developed Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) got a significant boost Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Stock Market, Microsoft and PricewaterhouseCoopers teaming up to show off the new platform for corporate reporting over the Internet.

Information Technology is mostly jargon. But XBRL is something you cannot afford to ignore, if you are a CEO or CFO. Virtually all research and consultancy organisations from Gartner to PricewaterhouseCoopers are hailing XBRL as a revolutionary development set to sweep the finance and investment world. XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) is the XML (extended mark-up language) based standard for identifying and better communicating the complex financial information in corporate business reports.

What is it? A financial-reporting vocabulary created in eXtensible Markup Language (XML). XBRL is intended to make it easy for financial and analytical applications to import, manipulate and compare data.

Proposed changes and additions to an XML variant targeted for use in financial reporting will make information more accessible and easier to audit, say supporters of the technology.

The promise of XML (define) to help streamline and expand the collection and sharing of data is arriving at a federal financial institution that ensures the soundness of many of the nation's banks.

This presentation is based on the book Introducing XBRL: Decision Making in a Digital Economy (Prentice Hall; 2001). The presentation provides (I) a global overview of XBRL ("eXtensible Business Reporting Language"), then (II) proceeds to predict the impact XBRL will have on business, government and society.

You could say that PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant Walter Hamscher began his work with the XML standards consortium XBRL International more than a few years ago while he was working on his PhD in computer science at MIT.

Time to learn another acronym. Later this month, a new version of xBRL, a subset of the XML Internet language intended to standardize how financial data is shared among Web-based applications, will be released. Leading makers of accounting software say they will incorporate xBRL-tagging capabilities into their products by the end of the year. This will go a long way toward transforming xBRL from a promising concept to a useful reality, but experts caution it will be several years before the code reaches its full potential. Until then, companies that want to exchange and analyze financial data over the Internet must continue to rekey or repackage much of it.

The XBRL data format could help companies more quickly create reports on business conditions and thus comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act reporting requirements, say proponents of the format.