Centre Main

12 June 2008 

 

U.S. SEC Chairman Praises Centre’s Work

 

Excerpts from Christopher Cox’s address to CFA Institute Conference on Next Generation Asset Management

 

Centre's Outreach on Issues Especially Valuable

 

"I particularly want to commend you for the work of the CFA Centre, which so ably represents your views to the SEC and other regulatory authorities, standard setters, and legislative bodies around the world. In fact, because the CFA Institute is a truly global organization that includes more than 81,000 investment professionals in more than 126 countries, your views from the investor perspective on issues such as IFRS and XBRL have been especially valuable."

 

"As you well know, these issues go to the heart of the quality of financial reporting and the disclosures provided to investors. When the SEC decided to tackle the problem of the growing complexity in financial reporting, it was natural for us to look to the CFA Institute. Your president and CEO, Jeff Diermeier, is a member of the SEC's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting, and the CFA Centre has provided exceptionally helpful technical support in the form of official commentary."

 

 

Leading the Way on XBRL

 

"The Advisory Committee, better known by its acronym, CIFiR, recently recommended that the SEC mandate the use of XBRL by public companies to data-tag their financial documents, and suggested that we do this on a phased-in schedule based on company size. Jeff and the CFA Institute were an important part of this recommendation, because you have been in the vanguard of promoting XBRL on a global basis for some time."

 

"Thanks to your leadership and commitment to this process, the SEC has a much better idea of what's important to analysts as we remake our EDGAR system for the 21st century."

 

"Through your XBRL Working Group of the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity, you've done an outstanding job of looking at disclosure from the users' perspective, to help ensure that reporting in interactive data format is implemented in a way that truly meets the needs of investors and analysts. To that end, CFA Institute has been ably represented at the international XBRL conferences around the world to make the case that interactive data has the potential to significantly advance the valuation process. You have staked out important principles that the SEC shares to guide the implementation of XBRL reporting programs:

  • You've insisted that the general public should have equal access to all XBRL-tagged information, and we firmly agree.
  • You've urged that regulators develop the necessary infrastructure and protocols to ensure the timely updating of the established XBRL framework, and we have been responding energetically to that call.
  • You've urged the development of data tags that follow approved accounting standards, and in particular IFRS and U.S. GAAP, and the SEC has helped lead the way in doing so."

 

 

Contributing to the Highest Standards of Ethics

 

"You can be very proud of your calling, and in particular the way that your profession and the CFA Institute have contributed to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. For our part, I can say on behalf of all of the professional men and women of the SEC, we are proud to be your partners."

 

View the complete speech.