XBRL and the New Administration(s): Trouble Ahead?

How could one not feel at least a bit of (renewed?) pride in this country after watching President Obama's swearing in.  The people...the flags...the pomp...the circumstance...it was all there.  He took the oath, waved goodbye to GW and Mrs. B, and got down to business.  Oh alright, not right away, as he had a few galas to attend, but come Day Two...time to put away the tux and get down to business.

When it comes to XBRL and the new Adminstration (actually Administrations given the revolving door at the SEC), things were already a little up in the air with a new incoming Chair of the SEC (more on that later).  Not a big deal, right, as all the SEC had to do was move their rule making process forward and wrap the XBRL rules up before all this change started happening.  

What's that?  The XBRL rules didn't get finalized before yesterday?  Oh boy...I guess that means the government-wide memo from Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel today effectively putting the breaks on all pending regulations comes into play with XBRL.  Although the SEC technically doesn't have to "follow"  a memo such as this (being an independent regulator), they almost always do...which means the final XBRL mandate rules are officially on hold since they had yet to hit the Federal Register.

On a quick digression, what's interesting to me about this is that Christopher Cox's time as Chair is over; he resigned yesterday.  As everyone knows, XBRL was Cox's baby.  He knew his time was short at the SEC and thus I would think have done everything possible to make the final rules official by getting them in the Federal Register BEFORE he left.  The reality is he didn't...or couldn't (Conspiracy Theorist Alert:  Was the holdup inter-agency vs. intra-?)...and now the rules have to wait in line for review by the Obama Administration. 

Adding to this air of XBRL uncertainty is new SEC Chairperson Mary Schapiro.  Although pro-investor and familiar with the turf, she takes over the SEC in a time of crisis with what I'll presume are a number of urgent matters in line ahead of XBRL.  Although it's expected her confirmation as Chairperson could come as soon as next week (Senate Banking Committee testimony coverage here, video here), I bet she'll want to get her new house in order before doing anything too drastic (good or bad) with XBRL.

So, where does this leave XBRL?  Although my crystal ball is a bit cloudy right now (nothing to do with the "I-really-wanted-to-be-at-an-Inaugural-Ball" beverages I had last night), I would tend to lean towards the sentiment expressed by Diane Mueller in her CIO post.  XBRL is a good fit at both the Administration and incoming SEC Chair level, does good for a number of key constituents in this information supply chain, and has even been embraced publicly by many companies (okay...fine...mostly larger ones, but any is better than none, right?).  

The next few weeks will obvioulsly hold the answer to the main question:  Can XBRL survive the storm of change hanging over DC?  I believe it can...and will...and thus my recommendation for all Group 1 companies to stay the course and continue preparing for a June 30th-based mandated XBRL filing.  Anything less would be...well, unpatriotic...=).

--Rob