Infosys in SEC pilot

Infosys "voluntarily" submitted financial data in a new software format, eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), which the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is testing, the firm told the Indian stock exchanges.

The firm was participating in the SEC's new 'Voluntary Program for Reporting Financial Information' on the commission's electronic database of such filings, called EDGAR (electronic data gathering, analysis and retrieval), using XBRL.

The XML (Extensible Markup Language) based information format for business reporting will provide a way for companies to tag (or "mark-up") financial documents.

As data is standardised in the XBRL format, it can be used to make "apples-to-apples" financial comparisons, Infosys said.

The firm will continue to submit its documents in existing documents, as required by the SEC, as the XRBL format documents are "only supplementary", Infosys said.

Mike Willis, founding chairman of XBRL International and partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers said, "The format helps investors better analyse financial data filed by companies by facilitating greater transparancy. Infosys is to be commended for it's role."