Jones calls the SEC press conference to announce the name of the database "little more than a publicity stunt, a way to get the word out that the SEC is serious about moving ahead with XBRL."

In Sept. 2006, SEC awarded three separate contracts totaling $54 million to transform the agency's 1980s-vintage public company disclosure system from a form-based electronic filing cabinet to a dynamic real-time search tool with interactive capabilities. The major investment in an interactive data system signals the agency's commitment to move away from the model of its current EDGAR database, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox explained.

By moving to interactive data using XBRL, the SEC will be joining the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency, which already requires banks to use it. Rather than treating financial information as a block of text--as in a standard internet page or a printed document--XBRL provides a unique identifying tag for each individual item of data, such as company net profit. That enables users to extract specific information more easily from SEC filings, run calculations and aggregate data without having to open and review multiple filings.

Hoffman says that would have "huge ramifications," noting, "that is a pretty profound thing if you ask me. The primary difference will be that the information will not reside in the form of what amounts to an electronic file cabinet (as the SEC calls it) like the current EDGAR system; but rather the data will exist in what amounts to a database which applications can do things with."

Companies' interactive data filings through IDEA are expected to begin being available late this year during the transition to the new system, the SEC said. Cox says the new IDEA database will be "fully mature" in five years.

"In plain English," Jones explains, "it means that in about five years, investors will no longer receive information as a document like an annual report or a prospectus. Instead of receiving pages of information, they will receive snippets of information that they self-select. The data they receive, which will be in a new format called XBRL will be viewed in a spreadsheet program or other software that has yet to be developed. "

There will be advantages, to be sure. But there will also be potential concerns, Jones points out. "A big concern for small individual investors should be what types of software will they have access to, or be able to afford, to be able to read the snippets of data," he continues. "You can bet that those with more money will be able to buy better software. This uneven playing field is something individual investors need to be aware of and think about."