XBRL US comments on Pay versus Performance
XBRL US has responded to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) request for comment on its proposal on Pay versus Performance, which was recently reopened. It expresses support for the use of XBRL – in particular Inline XBRL – for disclosures relating to the relationship between executive compensation and a company’s financial performance.
“We agree with the benefits described in the proposal, that XBRL tagging would lower the cost to investors of collecting this information, permit data to be analyzed more quickly by investors and other end-users, and enable comparisons among public companies,” says XBRL US, adding that digital tagging would also facilitate analysis over time, as well as inclusion in analyses with other types of financial data reported in XBRL.
The letter also pointed out other considerations for the SEC around implementation. Pay versus Performance disclosures may be prepared using different applications to periodic filings, and by different individuals with the company, making it especially important to provide sufficient training and educational resources. Given this ‘newness,’ XBRL US also urges the SEC to make available clear and useful technical guidance to vendors and issuers, including taxonomy drafts and examples of Inline XBRL documents.
We say: The more that regulators provide technical support and guidance to the reporting ecosystem as a whole (companies, vendors, filing agents, auditors, design agencies etc), including by way of example reports and draft taxonomies… the higher quality the resulting data will be.
Read more here.
