General Electric Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Banco Itau Holding Financeira will report their financial information to the SEC using the XBRL searchable data-tagging format informally known as interactive data, according to an SEC statement issued today.
With today's announcement, 20 companies have joined the initiative, the statement said.
"Interactive data will vastly improve the delivery of financial information to individuals and institutions alike," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in the statement about the extensible business reporting language format. "It has the potential to slash hours of waste, cost and inefficiency - not just for the users of financial data, but for the companies that prepare it as well."
"Interactive data permits individual investors and analysts to quickly search for individual items of information from financial reports, such as net income, executive compensation or mutual fund expenses," the statement said.
The arrangement with the companies "will last for at least one year, during which the firms will provide feedback to the SEC on their experience with interactive data," the statement said.
