The Washington DC-based Investment Company Institute has released its draft taxonomy for eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data ...

The Washington DC-based Investment Company Institute has released its draft taxonomy for eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data tagging by the mutual fund industry. The effort was undertaken with the strong encouragement of US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox, who has emphasised the potential of the Internet and interactive technology as a means to better inform and educate investors. The Institute has developed an XBRL taxonomy that can be used to tag data in the risk/return summary that is included in the front of every mutual fund prospectus. It includes the information proven by research to be of most importance to investors: the fund's investment objectives, principal investment strategies, principal risks and historical fund performance, along with the standardized fund fee table. The Institute has posted the draft taxonomy to its website for a 45-day public review period. When it has been finalised and the SEC amends its XBRL Voluntary Filer Program rules, mutual funds may elect to utilise the newly-created tag set in their SEC filings.