This edition of Data Transparency News reports on Rep. Hurt's sudden revival of an exemption to XBRL filings as a new site called "Rank and Filed" illustrates the SEC's need for a structured data transformation; highlights a House GOP tax reform proposal that aligns with Senate and White House efforts to open up nonprofit filings; welcomes unanimous House passage of the FOIA Act; and invites readers to join key financial regulators for breakfast on March 18 at the 1776 tech incubator.

Data Transparency News

Legislators Revive XBRL Exemption Effort as "Rank and Filed" Illustrates SEC's Need for Structured Data

On March 6, Reps. Robert Hurt (R-VA) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) introduced a bill that would direct the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to exempt public companies with revenues under $250 million 61% of all U.S. public companies –



"The SEC's failure to enforce the quality of XBRL filings has indeed denied investors access to reliable data, while companies remain obliged to file structured data financial statements that analysts are often unable to use," said Hudson Hollister, Executive Director of the Data Transparency Coalition. "But the proper response is for Congress to direct the agency to improve data quality, not to eliminate XBRL filings altogether for most companies."



Last fall, the Data Transparency Coalition and other supporters of structured, open data



Reps. Hurt and Sewell have revived their XBRL exemption just as a new website has dramatically demonstrated the need for the SEC to fully enforce existing structured data reporting requirements and transform the rest of its disclosure system from disconnected documents into structured data. Roughly 25 million public SEC filings have been scraped and published as open data on



"It actually feels silly even talking about it, because it’s just so basic," said the site's creator, Maris Jensen, in an



But even RankandFiled cannot fix inconsistencies in the underlying financial information unless the SEC begins to enforce XBRL data quality. Moreover, "the SEC doesn’t even try to standardize names," notes Jensen. "SEC registrants are given distinct identifiers, but anything goes when companies or names are listed inside a filing."



Over seven months, Jensen built her system using open source tools that pull data from the SEC's EDGAR database, then index and structure it to make it more useful for analysts. The EDGAR database first went into development over



At the Coalition's



But buried in a draft strategic plan released last month, the SEC



RankandFiled.com



The Coalition encourages the SEC to follow Jensen's lead – and hopes the agency will not be forced to take Rep. Hurt's step backwards. from the obligation to file financial statements in the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) structured data format."The SEC's failure to enforce the quality of XBRL filings has indeed denied investors access to reliable data, while companies remain obliged to file structured data financial statements that analysts are often unable to use," said Hudson Hollister, Executive Director of the Data Transparency Coalition. "But the proper response is for Congress to direct the agency to improve data quality, not to eliminate XBRL filings altogether for most companies."Last fall, the Data Transparency Coalition and other supporters of structured, open data criticized an earlier, similar proposal by Rep. Hurt, who then decided not to introduce the earlier proposal.Reps. Hurt and Sewell have revived their XBRL exemption just as a new website has dramatically demonstrated the need for the SEC to fully enforce existing structured data reporting requirements and transform the rest of its disclosure system from disconnected documents into structured data. Roughly 25 million public SEC filings have been scraped and published as open data on RankandFiled.com . Built by a former SEC analyst, the site provides seamless navigation throughout corporate disclosures, linking related information. By contrast, the SEC's existing Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system forces users to search through separate documents for each piece of information."It actually feels silly even talking about it, because it’s just so basic," said the site's creator, Maris Jensen, in an interview with Alex Howard's E Pluribus Unum blog. "This is stuff the SEC should have been doing years and years and years ago."But even RankandFiled cannot fix inconsistencies in the underlying financial information unless the SEC begins to enforce XBRL data quality. Moreover, "the SEC doesn’t even try to standardize names," notes Jensen. "SEC registrants are given distinct identifiers, but anything goes when companies or names are listed inside a filing."Over seven months, Jensen built her system using open source tools that pull data from the SEC's EDGAR database, then index and structure it to make it more useful for analysts. The EDGAR database first went into development over twenty years ago . In 2009, the agency began to require companies to submit filings in the XBRL structured data format alongside their existing document-based filings.At the Coalition's Data Transparency 2013 conference in September, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) unveiled letter from the House Oversight Committee that notes EDGAR's poor performance and calls on SEC chair Mary Jo White to jump-start her agency's stalled transformation from documents to open data. Earlier last year, the SEC's Investor Advisory Committee called for the same action. So far, the SEC has not publicly responded to the investor committee or to the Congressional letter.But buried in a draft strategic plan released last month, the SEC indicated that it intends to replace existing corporate and financial disclosure filings with "new filings structured for automated data retrieval and analysis." illustrates that structured data can easily be presented in a functional, user-friendly interface that can allow investors, journalists, analysts and agency staff produce better and more efficient insight into the financial sector.The Coalition encourages the SEC to follow Jensen's lead – and hopes the agency will not be forced to take Rep. Hurt's step backwards. House GOP Endorses Open Data for Nonprofit Tax Filings







All three proposals call for the IRS to transition away from the current practice of publishing images of nonprofit tax filings in the Tagged Image File (TIF) format and instead publish fully structured open data. With an apparent bipartisan consensus at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, this reform now seems assured.



Nonprofit tax filings are already technically available in the public domain. However, the practice of of publishing them only as unstructured images leads to unnecessary costs, errors, and delays in producing usable data. If the IRS implements the proposed expansion of electronic filing, researchers will be able to unlock unprecedented insights into the nonprofit sector.



The



The nonprofit tax filing transparency proposals follow widespread calls for more reliable information about the nonprofit sector, including the



"In sum," say the report's authors, Beth Noveck and Daniel Goroff, "the data that the IRS collect about nonprofit organizations present a great opportunity to learn about the sector and make it more effective." A recently-released House Republican draft tax reform proposal includes a mandate for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to expand electronic filing to all nonprofits and publish the data in a structured format, rather than as unstructured graphic images. This endorsement by the House GOP, which mirrors an earlier Senate Democratic proposal, is also consistent with a similar plan in President Obama's 2014 budget.All three proposals call for the IRS to transition away from the current practice of publishing images of nonprofit tax filings in the Tagged Image File (TIF) format and instead publish fully structured open data. With an apparent bipartisan consensus at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, this reform now seems assured.Nonprofit tax filings are already technically available in the public domain. However, the practice of of publishing them only as unstructured images leads to unnecessary costs, errors, and delays in producing usable data. If the IRS implements the proposed expansion of electronic filing, researchers will be able to unlock unprecedented insights into the nonprofit sector.The Data Transparency Coalition argues that in order to be truly "open," data needs to be accessible in a structured format. This principle is also a stated goal of President Obama's Open Data Policy, along with making the data public, described, reusable, complete, timely, and properly managed. Structured data is the goal of the Coalition's key legislative priority, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act ( DATA Act ), which would mandate government-wide data standards for federal spending. Senators are preparing to bring the DATA Act to a floor vote following its 388-1 passage by the House of Representatives in November.The nonprofit tax filing transparency proposals follow widespread calls for more reliable information about the nonprofit sector, including the Aspen Institute 's comprehensive report on the need for open data in nonprofit filings."In sum," say the report's authors, Beth Noveck and Daniel Goroff, "the data that the IRS collect about nonprofit organizations present a great opportunity to learn about the sector and make it more effective." FOIA Act Clears U.S. House







"Transparency in government is a critical part of restoring trust and the House will continue to work to make government more transparent and accessible to all Americans,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) upon passage of the bill (H.R. 1211), which is co-sponsored by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).



"This is our watch. We are the guardians of the democracy today,"



Informally known as the "FOIA Act," the bill includes



The Data Transparency Coalition welcomed the unanimous House vote and encouraged the Senate to pass the bill without delay. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) also The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 in a 410-0 vote last week, which would make it easier for citizens to access Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosures. The bill would require agencies to publish any information requested at least three times "in an electronic, publicly accessible format.""Transparency in government is a critical part of restoring trust and the House will continue to work to make government more transparent and accessible to all Americans,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) upon passage of the bill (H.R. 1211), which is co-sponsored by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)."This is our watch. We are the guardians of the democracy today," said Rep. Cummings on the House floor ahead of the bill's passage. "A significant part of any democracy is openness, where people can know what the government is doing. When you have a representative government, people come to the town hall meetings trying to find out what's going on. Now, they can go to computers to find out what's going on."Informally known as the "FOIA Act," the bill includes provisions requiring agencies to implement the "presumption of disclosure" affirmed by an existing executive order by President Obama. The FOIA Act would also direct the White House Office of Management and Budget to develop a centralized online portal to submit FOIA requests.The Data Transparency Coalition welcomed the unanimous House vote and encouraged the Senate to pass the bill without delay. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) also applauded the bill's passage, while calling for more comprehensive reforms to FOIA exemptions that are often invoked to withhold important information. Like on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend March 7, 2014

Members Executive

Teradata Corporation

WebFilings

PwC



Regular

1776

Adaptive

Level One Technologies

RR Donnelley

Smartronix

Socrata

StreamLink Software



Trade Association

Object Management Group

XBRL US



Individual and Nonprofit

Bernadette Hyland, 3 Round Stones

Alexander Falk, Altova

Anthony Hodson, Accenture

Ryan Alfred, BrightScope

Oscar Hackett, BrightScope

Marty Loughlin, Cambridge Semantics

Suzanne Morsfield, Columbia Business School

TR Santhanakrishnan, DataTracks

Kris Radhakrishnan, DataTracks

Isaiah Goodall, Elder Research

Anne Bini, Invoke

S. Swaminathan, IRIS Business Services

Maryland Association of CPAs

Greg Bateman, Microsoft

Joseph Kull, PwC

Francis Burns, SC&H Group

Mark Bolgiano, Unissant

Charles "Bucky" Clarkson, uReveal

Advisors Mike Atkin

Greg Bateman

Gila Bronner

Geoff Davis

Timothy Day

Earl Devaney

Eric Gillespie

Joel Gurin

Jim Harper

Don McCrory

Campbell Pryde

Mike Starr

Richard Soley

About Us The Teradata CorporationWebFilingsPwC1776AdaptiveLevel One TechnologiesRR DonnelleySmartronixSocrataStreamLink SoftwareObject Management GroupXBRL USBernadette Hyland, 3 Round StonesAlexander Falk, AltovaAnthony Hodson, AccentureRyan Alfred, BrightScopeOscar Hackett, BrightScopeMarty Loughlin, Cambridge SemanticsSuzanne Morsfield, Columbia Business SchoolTR Santhanakrishnan, DataTracksKris Radhakrishnan, DataTracksIsaiah Goodall, Elder ResearchAnne Bini, InvokeS. Swaminathan, IRIS Business ServicesMaryland Association of CPAsGreg Bateman, MicrosoftJoseph Kull, PwCFrancis Burns, SC&H GroupMark Bolgiano, UnissantCharles "Bucky" Clarkson, uRevealMike AtkinGreg BatemanGila BronnerGeoff DavisTimothy DayEarl DevaneyEric GillespieJoel GurinJim HarperDon McCroryCampbell PrydeMike StarrRichard SoleyThe Data Transparency Coalition advocates on behalf of the private sector and the public interest for the publication of government information as standardized, machine-readable data. Data transparency strengthens democratic accountability, enhances government management, reduces compliance costs, and stimulates innovation. Financial Regulators for Breakfast



Join Commissioner Scott O'Malia of the CFTC, Commissioner Michael Piwowar of the SEC, and a panel of data experts from five financial regulators to explore the challenges and opportunities of data transparency in financial regulation. March 18th, 7:30 am, at the Join Commissioner Scott O'Malia of the CFTC, Commissioner Michael Piwowar of the SEC, and a panel of data experts from five financial regulators to explore the challenges and opportunities of data transparency in financial regulation. March 18th, 7:30 am, at the 1776 incubator , 1133 15th St NW, Washington, DC. Details and registration are here

