The RIXML industry consortium is teaming with XBRL International - which is developing a global standard for financial reporting on the Web - on a joint project aimed at expanding the RIXML research specification to include the tagging of financial data.
Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an XML-based framework for financial reporting and provides a way to format data so it can communicate with disparate systems. XBRL tags provide financial data with standardised descriptions that facilitate processing by computer programs.
The RIXML/XBRL project was launched in June 2004 as a way to utilise the existing industry standard for financial data and determine if aspects of the standard could be incorporated into RIXML.
RIXML has created an XBRL Working Group within its organisation to lead the project and liaise with XBRL representatives. The group will identify the types of financial data tags necessary for the RIXML specification and determine which tags, as created by XBRL International, will be most effective to incorporate as a part of the research standard.
Jack Roehrig, director equity e-solutions at Merrill Lynch and interoperability committee chair for RIXML.org, says the SEC's recent statement of endorsement for XBRL shows that the standard is gaining momentum in the industry.
"Through a collaborative effort between RIXML.org and XBRL International working groups, we can effectively leverage this momentum to combine research data and financial data tagging standards as appropriate," says Roehrig.
Both organisations are expecting the RIXML specification to be modified with XBRL tags by the end of Q2 2005, with pilots starting later in 2005.