Digital Financial Reporting

A California bill would require public agencies to report using XBRL. The bill, SB-598 Open Financial Statements Act, is summarized as follows:

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST:

This bill would enact the Open Financial Statements Act. The bill would establish the Open Financial Statement Commission, consisting of 7 members appointed by the Governor. The bill would require the commission to contract, through an open and competitive request for proposal process, with vendors possessing the necessary software development expertise to build one or more interactive extensible business reporting format (iXBRL) taxonomies suitable for public agency financial filings and create a software tool that enables a public agency to easily create iXBRL documents consistent with these taxonomies. Commencing with an unspecified fiscal year, the bill would require that any financial statement required by other law to be submitted or filed by a public agency be filed in iXBRL and to meet the validation requirements of the relevant taxonomy. The bill would make conforming changes to various other laws requiring state and local agencies to file or submit financial statements or reports. However, if the commission fails to adopt a prototype iXBRL taxonomy software and filing system for implementation by an unspecified date, the bill would dissolve the commission and make the requirement that a public agency file financial statements in iXBRL inoperative. The bill would appropriate an unspecified sum from the General Fund to the commission to be used for purposes of the Open Financial Statements Act, subject to specified restrictions.

The Reason Foundation provides additional commentary.

Remember that the State of Florida has a similar bill that has become law.

Here is information relating to the XBRL taxonomy that is being created.