Nicolaisen retires from SEC

SEC Chief Accountant Donald Nicolaisen announced his retirement as of October. Nicolaisen has been active in improving financial disclosure and attempting to rebuild confidence in financial reporting in the post-Enron era. Among Nicolaisen's specific accomplishments were building ties with the PCAOB to faciliate implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley, attempting to improve harmonization between the IASC and the FASB and piloting the use of XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) for data reporting. XBRL allows users more flexibility to retrieve and analyze financial reports by means of electronic technology. New SEC Chair Christopher Cox praised Nicolaisen for his commitment to implementing Sarbanes-Oxley and protecting investor interests.

(Note: For more information on XBRL, see an August 6 post on this blog or, more specifically, the August issue of the Journal of Accountancy.