I-Metrix: US tax and accounting professionals get
Jinfo Blog

24th June 2008

Item

While most information markets seem to reach saturation, there is still room for more services in the US tax and accounting world. Thomson Reuters http://www.thomsonreuters.com/ and EDGAR Online http://www.edgar-online.com/ have jointly launched I-Metrix, powered by Checkpoint http://digbig.com/4xbxt. Checkpoint is the Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting business online productivity and workflow tool. It uses XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), which lets subscribers retrieve detailed financial information while working in Microsoft Office Excel. I-Metrix claims to deliver financial data within hours of their filing with the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission). Two examples where this service helps users are in the preparation of benchmark analyses or the creation of internal financial dashboards. Announcing the launch, Keith Haurie, Vice President, Product Management, Research & Guidance, Thomson Reuters, confirmed the commitment of the Tax & Accounting Division to providing more data and tools to financial management professionals. Speaking of EDGAR’s expertise he said: ‘EDGAR Online’s technologies and capabilities will enable us to continue to deliver the state-of-the-art, cutting-edge technology our clients expect. Access to I-Metrix XBRL-powered data and analytical tools is a natural next enhancement to SECPlus on Checkpoint. The SEC recently announced that it would mandate the use of XBRL for financial reporting and this new tool is launched to help meet this requirement. By integrating data directly into Excel there will no longer be any need to ‘cut and paste’ from one worksheet into another. One benefit should be a reduction in transposition errors. Users can check the underlying data by clicking back through to the EDGAR source and to the XBRL accounting definition of the item. Previously created financial models will be automatically updated with the more recently filed data, which should cut down the amount of time it takes to create regularly generated reports. This is not Thomson Reuters only foray into the tax world. In May I wrote http://www.vivavip.com/go/e5901 about its acquisition of Digita Personal Tax in the UK, which was placed in the Sweet & Maxwell business division of the company. Earlier Thomson International Legal & Regulatory acquired PowerTax in Australia. This spreading of tax products across a number of Thomson Reuters divisions must surely lead to confusion – presumably someone inside the company knows what belongs where?

« Blog