On January 30, 2009, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rules requiring foreign private issuers preparing their financial statements using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, to provide their financial statements to the SEC and on their corporate websites, if any, in interactive data format using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). XBRL is a machine readable data format that allows investors and other data users to more easily access, analyze and compare financial information across reporting periods and companies.
On March 1, 2017, the SEC published an IFRS Taxonomy on its website so that foreign private issuers preparing their financial statements using IFRS may immediately begin submitting those reports using XBRL. Otherwise, all such foreign private issuers must submit their financial statements in XBRL for fiscal periods ending on or after December 15, 2017.
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