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It seems new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will require large publicly held companies to adopt the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) by December 15th, 2008, for all the financial documents they file with the agency.

Being the financial reporting version of XML, XBRL allows for standardized accounting data to be tagged and retrieved more easily as documents can be mined for data without calling up entirely.

So the SEC is basically requiring big changes from large publicly held companies because their PCs aren’t fast enough to process large documents, errr… while that may hold true, the main reason has to do with the structured way in which the XBRL data is stored.

SEC 10-K annual reports and other documents that use XBRL can be read by software, screened for specific data and then, reorganized into new reports. For investigators and investors looking to quickly search for less common financial data such as “assets held for sale”, the XBRL tagging does wonders.

The new SEC requirement affects “large accelerated filers” which likely includes the majority of the Fortune 500 — 75 companies, including Ford, GE, IBM, Pepsi, United Technologies and Xerox already use XBRL.

Once XBRL has become a standard way of making SEC reports, the mandate is expected to be phased in for smaller publicly held companies. Furthermore, the FDIC and the central banks of the European Union have already adopted XBRL in their reporting.

While the XBRL requirement might seem somewhat steep for large companies, it’s probably a good thing since it’ll be easier for investors, including large retirement fund analysts, to finally be able to quickly compare several companies using very specific variables.

For the financial publications’ readers, this means that the financial reports, in the years to come, might yield significantly more comprehensible information that’ll likely be useful when trying to understand what’s happening in a company where an investment is being considered.

Tags: xbrl, xml, sec, fdic, european banks, financial reports, reporting, standards, compliance, mandate

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While making the wrong long-term plan could drive someone right into a proverbial brick wall, the dangerous habit of overly relying on short-term thinking to decide anything and everything can turn into equally catastrophic failures.

At the very least, resorting to short-term thinking for business management can be quite stressful as the lack of solid longer-term thinking sets the stage for a stressful work environment where everything seems to hang in the latest decision needing to be made.

For instance, look at how many business decisions are being made just to pump up the current quarter’s results. Worse yet, consider the legions of C-level executives who bend over backwards to tie in short sighted money deals with ever more capricious investors. The short-term thinking pitfalls are obvious, in today’s business environment, hence the importance of learning to recognize it in order to properly manage it.

Short-term management has upsides which, among other things, helps the company move swiftly when market changes occur but the downsides are way more risky as they could bring down the whole organization into a sort of vortex made strong by countless small mistakes adding up into a much larger “situation” that ends up spinning out of all control (and endangering everybody’s job).

Short-term thinking paves the way to exciting business management times as everything is up for discussion on a regular basis but that’s the kind of mindset that people who like to plan far ahead feel uncomfortable with.

The holy grail isn’t just short-term or just long-term, it’s about balance — a sort of comfort zone for decision making where the latest “trends” don’t necessarily wildly skew everything that was already planned ahead.

If anything, perhaps this article will help you realize how foolish it can be to jump head first in the latest media spin only to find out, a little later, that the spin had more to do with hot air than anything else.

So take your time. Think. Decide better and elevate yourself over the often risky pool of trends and media spins that , unchecked, can scrap a well laid out plan in favor of an impulsive and frenzied scramble for sudden (and usually largely irrelevant -or- unnecessary) reorganization.

Life is much better for those who manage to escape the short-term thinking roller coaster.

Tags: short-term, long-term, management, business, decisions, media spin

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While it’s still a common belief, among the general public, that IT companies in India are nothing more than sweatshops, the savvy Canadian business people know the reality is closer to the other end of the rainbow — the technology powerhouse side.

India is already offering IT services that compete with the world’s best and brightest. The information technology outsourcing revolution is well underway, with India being the clear winner. As if this wasn’t enough of a blow to the “local” IT job market, more outsourcing “ideas” might become viable alternatives, for all sorts of companies.

For instance, what if a company’s CEO was fired to be replaced by a tactical team of 10 Indian PhDs with complementary knowledge? Would that be a good thing, for some companies? It seems a growing number of decision makers “in the West” are considering these kinds of alternatives.

Predictably, it doesn’t stop with the CEO but it goes down to command chain as well. When the workforce pool is suddenly upped by tens of millions of university graduates, Western workers risk being evaluated to see if their job couldn’t be done “on the cheap side”. Since the outsourcing trend towards India isn’t limited to IT anymore, expansive cities like Bangalore stand to gain the most.

In today’s Indian employment marketplace, a 15,000$CA IT worker is considered the professional equivalent of a 90,000$CA worker, in Canada. Mathematically speaking, it’s easy to understand why the outsourcing for computer-related tasks has gained such momentum, over the past few years.

So here’s the big question: how can Canada stay competitive in the face of such a qualified, yet affordable, workforce?

More education and ongoing training are two smart ways to keep our workers “attractive” for the most lucrative employers. Furthermore, government policies protecting the “domestic innovators” from global threats, including the outright theft of their hard work, is another pillar we need to build up in order to survive the massive influx of talent being brought, by India, to the worldwide pool of qualified labor.

In the real world, the Canadian government is currently doing very little (if anything at all) to protect its domestic innovators from India’s clear and present “outsourcing dangers”. Some people from Canada, who are familiar with this matter, consider this to be a treason to our workforce.

Getting educated about how India is reshaping the IT industry, all over the world, should help understand what’s in store for many other lines of work, in Canada and everywhere else.

Tags: india, outsourcing, information technology, it, jobs

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Green. It’s the color usually associated with both money and the environment. Two of the most popular topics today, in America.

Not too surprisingly, the best of the Top 20 “most admired companies” in America work, at least in part, on strategies and products aimed at helping preserve our blue planet.

While eco-friendliness hasn’t always been the valued corporate trait it has become, the climatic and environmental changes our world is going through are dramatically reshaping how people think of which company deserves their admiration.

Here’s are the companies being admired the most, nowadays, according to Fortune:

1. General Electric
2. Starbucks
3. Toyota Motor
4. Berkshire Hathaway
5. Southwest Airlines
6. FedEx
7. Apple
8. Google
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Procter & Gamble
11. Goldman Sachs
12. Microsoft
13. Target
14. 3M
15. Nordstrom
16. United Parcel Service
17. American Express
18. Costco Wholesale
19. PepsiCo *
20. Wal-Mart Stores *

* Both companies got the same score… so it’s a tie!

While some companies getting high scores like PepsiCo (selling sugary beverages to kids) may leave you literally scratching your head, most of these top performers are doing more than a few things right.

Studying these companies’ PR smarts may yield interesting pointers as to how they got on this coveted list. Even if your company is smaller, some of these findings might easily apply to your business model.

Which company do -you- admire most, and why?

Tags: most admired companies, pr smarts, eco-friendliness, america, usa

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Many of the risks today’s companies face are subtle or indirect. It’s not just about competitors or computer hackers anymore. The risks have gone as global as your company’s efforts to serve new, ever expanding, markets.

Let’s take a look at few risk factors you should be on the lookout for:

• Globalization - As you know, supply chains and markets have gone global which means there’s a new set of potential crises, anything from natural disasters, political unrest or even cultural clashes for which you need to worry about… and plan for.
• Outsourcing - While outsourcing may, in fact, reduce the monetary burdens, this “à la mode” management approach also dramatically reduces your control. For instance, from the instant your outsourcing partner suffers a fire or a labor strike, it’s your problem too.
• Single Sourcing - Getting all your manufactured goods from a single source may buy you a better price, it also means there’s no easy alternative in the event this supplier suddenly shuts down.
• Crises - Being located in mainland America means you have little chances of being hit by a deadly tsunami or a terrorist attack but over time, the odds add up so instead of foolishly downplaying those crises your think won’t happen, reflect on the damage caused if any one of them does… and prepare for that.
• Employees Leaving - When employees leave, especially the seniors, their knowledge usually walks out the door with them. Even though their smarts may not end up in your competitors’ hands, these infinitely useful tidbits of information may be lost. Make sure to have a system in place which can capture and share this tactic know-how or risk sweating over the same problems, all over again.

The goal here isn’t to become paranoid about risk management but since so many companies don’t set time and money aside for these matters, now is probably a good time to assess your company’s risk awareness… and preparedness.

Tags: risk, corporate risk, risk management, risk awareness, preparedness, damages, employees, outsourcing, globalization, competitors, computer hackers

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