The SEC is making it easier to look up information from public company filings. There are three projects contained in this press release.

1. Update EDGAR to support XBRL (3-6 year total contract)
2. Update the XBRL language to support GAAP accounting statements (< 1year)
3. Create tools for investors to use the new system (No time provided)

The time frame is one year for the current EDGAR data to be transformed into XBRL. While I applaud the SEC efforts I think the time frame might be a bit aggressive.

When completed, this effort should help a lot of people gather information quickly on different companies and be able to compare two companies much quicker. In the short term, it’s really going to help the do-it-your-selfers more than the professional since most of this data is already available through third parties.

One good side effect for the professional could be the creation of new tools for analytics based on this data. Companies who currently provide the data will probably have to create new value added solutions which will create a new set of features for the professionals to use.