Grant Thornton LLP National Director of Assurance Innovation Dan Roberts has been re-elected as Chairman of the XBRL-US Steering Committee, which governs XBRL-US, a consortium of 70 organizations working to adopt a standard method of business and financial reporting in the U.S. and worldwide. The XBRL-US Steering Committee is made up of nine representatives of those members. Liv Watson of Edgar-Online was elected Vice-Chair of the XBRL-US Steering Committee.

“This coming year will be a very busy one for the Steering Committee and for XBRL-US in general. First and foremost, we’ll be following up on the successes of this year, focusing on the SEC’s Voluntary Filing Program, encouraging adoption of XBRL in the public sector, supporting membership and getting the message to wider audiences, and preparing to host the most successful XBRL conference ever,” Roberts said in a prepared statement.

Roberts and the rest of the committee have worked closely with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), as well as the financial community and investor advocacy groups to help promote eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as a technology that enables better communication in both internal and external reporting of financial information.

Two years ago, XBRL-US membership was in decline. During Roberts’ first year as Chairman membership has grown from 46 to 70 companies. “Today, the organization is financially stable, viable and growing,” Roberts states.

Roberts also represents XBRL-US on the XBRL-International Steering Committee, the governing body of the international consortium. XBRL-International includes around 450 organizations, and 19 national jurisdictions. He is a strong proponent of the idea that XBRL is going to fundamentally change and improve business reporting. “XBRL is to Financial and Business Reporting, what the Internet is to the printed Yellow pages,” Roberts said.

Within Grant Thornton, Roberts is responsible for the development and introduction of Grant Thornton’s ASAP, a qualitative business performance assessment process, as well as a number of other initiatives. Prior to joining Grant Thornton in early 2001, Roberts had experience in internal audit re-engineering, risk management, and internal audit management. He developed an Internet based Enterprise Risk Manager System, founded on the concepts of the COSO framework on internal Control.