Satyam is India's first direct participant member of XBRL

To provide leadership in financial reporting; to lead in forming India jurisdiction

Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services Limited, a global consulting and IT services provider, on Monday announced that it has become India's first direct participant member of the XBRL International consortium.

XBRL International is a non-profit consortium whose members include approximately 300 leading global organisations from segments of the business information supply chain, according to a press release.

As a direct participant member of the consortium, Satyam will work together with other consortium members to promote the adoption of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language).

XBRL is a standard designed to eliminate the constraints of incompatible formats and vocabularies and to use recent trends in technology to enhance business reporting. It is based on extensible mark up language and takes advantage of its ability to create self-describing data.

Satyam will provide leadership in the area of financial reporting, which is a part of all major compliance and regulatory requirements. By being the first member from India, Satyam will lead in forming an India jurisdiction and thereby derive a competitive advantage.

As a member of the XBRL, Satyam will study various aspects of overcoming barriers to change the business reporting sector, ensure accurate market expectations about future growth and add value to XBRL in the practical arena of business.

Satyam will also define the strategic role of XBRL in the industry, and move beyond theory towards practice. Apart from this, Satyam will also approach accounting bodies and academic institutes to evaluate adoption of this standard and to contribute towards developing it.

"Corporate transparency is the call of the day, and XBRL is widely recognised as an important component in the improvement of corporate transparency. We are delighted to be India's first direct participant in the development of XBRL technical documents and taxonomies. We will also liaison with key organisations, including government regulatory bodies and industry associations to forge strategic business partnerships," said Vijay Prasad, director and senior vice-president, who heads Satyam's Enterprise Applications and Business Intelligence Practice.

"Early adoption of XBRL will provide significant competitive benefits to our customers. The Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Practice has already formed a special interest group that will adapt and practice XBRL in the solutions we provide to our customers," Kiran Cavale, vice-president and global head of Satyam's Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Practice, said.

XBRL allows the platform for independent definition, exchange and dissemination of business reporting information.

It can be used to express a wide range of reports and disclosures including financial statements, internal management information, regulatory returns, statistical reports and credit filings.