Critics weren’t so sure it would add much value, but the SEC ended up adopting an XBRL reporting requirement late in 2008. As a result, public companies of all sizes have begun or plan to report their financial data to the regulator using XBRL. The largest companies began filing XBRL-tagged data for fiscal periods ending on or after June 15, 2009, and the remaining companies are being “phased in” over the next year and a half, according to the SEC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has already mandated that the nation’s 500 largest public companies file their financials using eXtensible Business Reporting Languge beginning this year. Remaining SEC filers are expected to be using XBRL by 2011.

In late 2008, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated that companies filing financial statements would have to make them available in an interactive format that uses eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

Compliance Week reported Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued what it is calling a Small Business Compliance Guide for filing XBRL-tagged financials.