By Neville Robinson, Contributor 
SINCE THE introduction of the printing press, which facilitated mass printing, the world has functioned primarily as a paper society. Accountants work in the medium of communication and are constantly finding innovative ways to communicate.
With the advent of the electronic age, communication has shifted gear. This shift has affected the speed with which financial information is disseminated. Currently, accountants present financial information on a periodic basis. In the future, this information will be available in real time or on a continuous basis.
It will be possible for a user of financial information to see the effect of each transaction on the financial statement. As the events unfold and the transactions take place the income statement, balance sheet and other traditional statements will reflect the state of the business in financial terms. The balance sheet is defined as a snap shot view of a business at a point in time. With the up to the moment reporting, the balance sheet will become the motion picture of a business. Remember, a movie is really just many still pictures captured on film and shown rapidly on screen. Put another way, the position of the business will really be the updating of discreet balance sheets projected or changing as events and transactions take place. Depending on the nature and timing of the transaction, the balance sheet could change before your eyes while viewing on your computer monitor.
Consider the benefit of real time financial information to financial analysts, management accountants, potential investors and other users. The analyst or management accountant can answer the 'what if' question in real time. The manager could simulate the possible effect of a transaction before approval. The consequence for decision-making is vast and the elimination of the negative effect of a transaction is a reality. All this will be made possible through the use of XBRL and its companion XML.
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is considered the next step in web evolution and the wave of the future. It is different from HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) because it does not define a fixed type of document. Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) uses XML-based data tags to describe the data in financial statements. This tagging scheme permits the use of software to access and analyse embedded information in financial statements. Presently, in e-business, the interoperability of software applications and consistent protocols and format for information interchange are basic ingredient of the market process. The foundation language, XML, holds these ingredients together.
The tenacity of the accountant will determine the extent to which the new challenges are met. A sure way to meet the demands of the future is to develop on-line courses for students, professional accountants, lecturers and professors of accounting. In the near future, new accounting students joining the work force may have to be knowledgeable about XBRL and XML.
Neville Robinson is a partner in Robinson Davis and Company & a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica. The views and opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the ICAJ.
