1. Is XML an enabler of Assurance Services?
EDGAR
NLINE O SM
Is XML an enabler of Assurance Services?
“Unlocking the Treasures of Standards”
Presented by: Liv A. Watson
Director – EDGAR Online

2. Agenda Communication Problems XML XML Standards
Is XML an enabler of continuous auditing and assurances

3. Is There A Problem?
From Evansville Courier and Press

4. What is XML (Extensible Markup Language) ?
is a markup language for documents containing structured information.
Consortiums
Taxonomies
Specifications

5. How does it work?
XML gives meaning to information through the use of tags
<Customer> <Name>Liv A. Watson</Name>
<Company>Edgar Online Inc.</Company> <Title>Director</Title> <Age>22</Age> </Customer>
Caution.. …Just because something is <tagged>.. Does not mean it is accurate?

6. Why is XML so Important? Portable Vendor neutral Readable data format
More flexible and easier to use than EDI
All major software products are becoming “XML” enabled
Defacto standards for data exchange
Enabling new levels of interoperability

7. Extensible Markup Language
…is a meta markup language the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) considers a universal standard for describing both structured data and the behavior of applications that process the language.
XML

8. XBRL Adds Reporting to E-Commerce
Investors
Aggregators
Regulators
Creditors
Lenders
Tax
Website
One
way
BUSINESS
ERP
G/L Packages
CRM
2-way
Transaction Creation
Suppliers
Customers
Orders
A/P
Delivery
Orders
A/R
Delivery

9. XBRL Adds Reporting to E-Commerce
BUSINESS
Investors
Aggregators
Regulators
Creditors
Lenders
Tax
Website
Transaction Creation
ERP
G/L Packages
CRM
Orders
A/P
Delivery
Customers
A/R
2-way
Suppliers
One
way
XBRL
BUSINESS REPORTING
(e-)Commerce
OTHER XML INITIATIVES

10. XML Technologies Markup Presentation Schema Relationship/Queries
eXtensible Markup Language (XML 1.0)
Presentation
eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)
eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSTL)
Schema
Document Type Definition (DTD)
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
XML Data Schema
Namespaces
Relationship/Queries
XML Linking Language (XLL)
XML Query Language (XQL)
XML is short hand for a set of that together provide a way of handling text in machine readable form.
These are just a few of them….
XML 1.0 (Extensible Markup Language) The W3C recommendation for text based storage of structured data, by marking up a document in XML.
XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) Flexible formatting and display of XML data like a CSS stylesheet – presentation.
XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) works with a style sheet to transform the XML docs for presentation – also allows applications to filter, reorder and add data elements when presenting the document. Current use of XML on the web is transformed into HTML for current non-XML browsers.
RDF (Resource Description Framework) an application of XML specifying a structure for metadata for web resources.
DTD (Document Type Definitions) and XML Data Schema – these can all be shared by documents - RDF being a data model and syntax and schema for metadata descriptions of Web Resources
XML (Namespaces) Mechanism for resolving XML tag and attribute name conflicts in the DTDs used by authors – public in the form of unique URLS
XLL (XML Linking Language) defines tags multi directional links and more generally, how documents will be able to retrieve information from each other.
XQL (XML query language) extracting, transporting large amounts of data from XML docs or sending queries to XML sources

11. The Reason for Standards
Hello?
Hejsan?
Bon Jour!
There can be no doubt that standards are a desirable prerequisite for commerce - especially international trade and communications. However, the standards of which we are most concerned revolve around communication protocols and document standards.
The Reason for Standards

12. XML Is a Standard The problem with standards …. But this is changing.
Door opener. ‘XML? Yes, we can handle that.’
Normalization.
Content type becomes irrelevant.

13. XML’s Role in the Continuous Assurance Market Place
XML is making life easier for integrators. This is a good thing.
XML is becoming the preferred format for many sources of financial information.
The result: There are real opportunities for changing the way the business thinks about market data.

14. XML’s Contribution to a Continues Assurances
A standard. We’re all talking the same language.
Flexibility. All data types covered; flexible approach to display.
Cost. Opportunities for significant savings vs. existing solutions.

16. New Application Features
Focus on online processing rather than batch processing;
Enable contextual message processing rather than stand-alone message transport;
Allow concurrent, not sequential, exchange of information;
Allow real-time data communication, processing and update capabilities.

17. XBRL Issues Foundational Conflicts
Data centric XBRL disclosures
Document centric traditional disclosures   
Roger
Human usage
Data extraction
Print
Web

18. Single XML Vocabulary? It is a matter of…
Timing
Organizations need to decide when they can migrate to this new way of developing standards
Education
Organizations need to understand/utilize the standards methodology
Governance
Organizations need to understand their role in future standards development through the standards repository

19. References Wiley Publication Fall 2002
Miklos A. Vasarhelyi KPMG Professor of AIS
Liv A.Watson, Director of XBRL- EDGAR Online, Inc.
Brian L. McGuire, Ph.D. CPA, CMA Department of Accounting and Business Law School of Business University of Southern Indiana
Rajendra P. Srivastava Ernst & Young Distinguished Professor and Director Ernst & Young Center for Auditing Research and Advanced Technology

20. Concluding Remarks…..
Embrace
Continous Assurances
or .....

21. Questions and
Answers