, 2011
www.xbrl.us
The Honorable Darrell E. Issa, Chairman Committee on Oversight and Government Reform United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 RE: The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2011, H.R. 2146 Dear Congressman Issa: On behalf of the members of XBRL US, the nonprofit consortium for XBRL business reporting standards, I am writing in support of your legislation, H.R. 2146, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2011 (Data Act). This legislation, which calls for the creation of a Financial Accountability and Spending Transparency (FAST) Board to collect information, and requires that reporting entities submit information using a common data standard, is an evolutionary change in the way information on federal spending is conveyed to the American public. If enacted, we believe that it will result in greater transparency, accessibility and accuracy in government reporting, giving citizens clear, timely information about how their tax dollars are put to work. Data standards have been proven to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of reporting in many domains. How information is disclosed is just as important as what is disclosed. The DATA Act would mandate the use of a nonproprietary data standard and it explicitly references XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) which is already in use by several U.S. government agencies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Today, thousands of banks and corporations report to these agencies in XBRL. Outside the U.S., XBRL is used for government reporting in the Netherlands and in Australia, for corporate reporting in China, Japan, Israel, Korea and Israel, and for corporate tax reporting in the UK.
Letter to the Honorable Darrell E. Issa, Chairman Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Page Two
XBRL is an open, freely available standard developed and supported by industry. Expanding its use to other government agencies would ensure interoperability of systems and information and would allow for the leveraging of existing technologies and tools for both businesses and government. The data standards model recommended in the DATA Act will likely become a standard in other reporting applications, both government and private sector, given the sheer volume of federal spending data. The more reporting applications developed using the same data standard, the greater the streamlining, cost-reduction and time-savings that can be recognized. We applaud your leadership on this critical issue and would be happy to discuss other areas around the world where data standards have proven beneficial. If you have any questions or if we can be of further assistance, please contact me at 917-582-6159 or campbell.pryde@xbrl.us.
Campbell Pryde President and CEO XBRL US, Inc.
cc: The Honorable Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
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