The presentations at the recent International XBRL Conference in Tokyo have now been posted to the XBRL site at http://www.xbrl.org/pastevents. Just click on the link for "conference presentations" under the heading for the 12th International XBRL Conference.

The first audit opinion on an XBRL filing with the SEC under the voluntary program was filed recently by United Technologies Corporation. The opinion was renderd by Pricewaterhousecoopers in accordance with AT101 as recommended by the PCAOB in it's Q&A (which can be found on the PCAOB site) on the subject. Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm the PCAOB Q&A can be found at http://www.pcaob.org/standards/staff_questions_and_answers/2005/05-25%20.pdf

This article, written by Colm O hAonghusa and originally published in Accountancy Ireland, discusses the important new XBRL taxonomy XBRL GL. This taxonomy makes it possible to tag data at a transactions level within an accounting system. The article goes on to argue that the best business case for XBRL can be found in its use for internal reporting. It is hosted in this blog with the express permission of the author and of Accountancy Ireland. The link is at http://www.zorba.ca/XBRLGL.pdf

Various timely podcasts are available from the following website. they include interviews with people who are very active in emerging XBRL developments. The XBRL Show

A conference on XBRL Usage is being held in San Jose on Jan 18 and 19. Sponsored by Adobe Systems, it will consist of seminars led by people from various organizations involved with the use of XBRL for e-filing purposes, including the FDIC and the SEC and will include a day of training in XBRL related tools. The flyer is at: http://xbrl.org/us/us/XBRLUSConfFlyer2T.pdf

The CICA's Information Technology Advisory Committee has released a new updated version of its publication "Audit and Control Implications of XBRL. It's available at the following link. Just scroll down to the white papers. The new version takes into account advances in XBRL and also assurance related events such as the release of the XBRL Assurance Q&A by the PCAOB. ITAC Publications

One area to watch in the evolution of XBRL is the improvements being made in the XBRL tools. The SEC has in effect asked the software industry to see what they can do in this area. Fulitsu is one of the suppliers, and their page which follows sets out the ongoing announcements about improvements in their products. Services & Products > Software > Interstage > Products > XBRL Processor > XBRL and Fujitsu > Standardization:XBRL Tools - FUJITSU

Canada and the US are filling behind the rest of the world in the use of technology for financial reporting, says Mike Willis of PWC. IT Business