ICI Supports SEC Decision to Evaluate Effectiveness of Filing Enhancements

Washington, DC, November 1, 2004 - The Institute supports a voluntary program initiated by the SEC that will help evaluate the usefulness of data tagging in SEC-required filings by registrants, investors, and the Commission.

Background
In September, the SEC proposed rule amendments that would enable registrants to voluntarily submit tagged financial information as an exhibit to certain filings made on the EDGAR system. The voluntary program will use "extensible business reporting language" (XBRL), which allows users to extract, exchange, analyze, and display financial information.

ICI Position
In a recent comment letter, the Institute supported the SEC's decision to evaluate data tagging through a voluntary filer program. ICI states that the voluntary nature of the program should enable registrants to participate on their own schedule and not interfere with periodic reporting deadlines. The Institute urges the Commission to design the voluntary program in a manner that provides flexibility to investment company registrants filing XBRL- related financial information.

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