Chairman Cox's Address before the AICPA National Conference (Dec. 8, 2008)

[Miles P. Jennings, Jr.]

The full text of Chairman Cox's speech may be found at mondovisione. It ranges from 19th-century panics to accounting issues of today. He even looks forward to IFRS and how investors around the world will soon start reading financial reports in their own native languages---30 languages in all .

One of the building blocks of IFRS is having XBRL reporting. Cox comments on the timing of SEC Final Rules as follows:
"This focus on the investor's interest in global comparability is also evident in the aggressive support of the IASC Foundation for eXtensible Business Reporting Language — a priority shared by AICPA. In the same way that IFRS might someday soon make financial statements understandable to investors anywhere on earth, the 30 different spoken languages that will someday soon be embedded in XBRL data tags attached to public company financial statements could let any investor read an IFRS or U.S. GAAP financial statement from any country in his or her own native language. That objective will be significantly advanced if, as expected, the Commission later this month finalizes our proposed rule to provide investors with all public company financial reports in interactive data format." [source: www.mondovisione.com]

Chairman Cox conveys the admirable and steadying role of independent accounting standard setters as critical for reliable public dissemination of financial information. His quick sweep of history puts the current financial crisis in good perspective.

[SRIDHAR KRISHNAN]

No substance in the message

[Miles P. Jennings, Jr.]

But, Sridhar, Chairman Cox does not control the vote. He cannot provide the "substance" you apparently need. As much as he could say---it seems, he said. Namely, the SEC is expected to vote this month on the Final Rules. That is helpful to those who are following XBRL.

If you study his speech, there is a clear message that the independent setting of reporting standards is an ongoing and needed force in steadying markets and increasing public confidence. This was all in the context of discussing IFRS and XBRL.

Fortunately, the SEC still takes a deliberate approach to major new standards; and the careful legal process of proposing, public comment, and rule-making assures diligence and best-effort independent review. I would have been shocked if Chairman Cox had stepped out of the procedural line by making his own personal projections when speaking before the national meeting of the AICPA.

[SRIDHAR KRISHNAN]

What I meant to say was that there was no new information.

[Sonia Luna]

I met the Chairman a few years back when he presented three XBRL products to a group of SEC Attorneys in Los Angeles. It was like seeing a kid play with a new toy. I'm sure the next Chairman will continue this endeavor.