The their book The Value Reporting Revolution, Robert G. Eccles, Robert H. Herz, E. Mary Keegan and David M. H. Phillips explain how executives who report on corporate performance, investors, governing boards, accounting firms, security analysts, regulators and others will have their worlds rocked by radical improvements in corporate reporting.
The authors explain that the revolution will happen. Well frankly, I think we are in the midst of the revolution. Of XBRL, the authors say:
Companies that do not arm themselves with XBRL, and rely instead on the increasingly outmoded arsenal of corporate reporting media and practices, will compare to those who eschewed the telephone in favor of carrier pigeons. Providers of capital want to align with companies that look to the future, not those that cling to the past.
I recommend this book to anyone trying to wrap their heads around this radical change in corprate reporting.