Definition: XBRL

(EXtensible Business Reporting Language) A specification for publishing financial information in the XML format. It is designed to provide a standard set of XML tags for exchanging accounting information and financial statements between companies and analysts. In 2008, approximately 50 U.S. companies reported financial data in XBRL to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that same year, the SEC mandated that companies with more than $5 billion in capitalization must file in XBRL by June 2009, and all publicly traded companies and mutual funds must comply by 2011. See XML.