Abstract: As the first decade of the new millennium draws to a close, individual investors will find that a new era in financial analysis is beginning. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now requires corporations to use eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) when submitting their disclosure filings. XBRL has been developed by an international nonprofit consortium to meet corporate reporting needs. XBRL documents will be made available to the public as soon as they are filed. XBRL-enabled financial analysis tools will enable investors to perform their financial analysis more quickly and accurately. It is now time to consider the needs of financial information stakeholders who will use the information contained in XBRL instance documents. The SEC is encouraging software developers to create XBRL-enabled tools to meet the needs of individual investors and other financial information stakeholders. This paper proposes an evaluation model for reviewing XBRL-enabled financial analysis tools to be used by individual investors. Four freely available XBRL viewers were examined using the evaluation model. The SEC’s currently available tool was evaluated in detail to better demonstrate the use of the model. To place this evaluation model in its proper context, this paper examines what XBRL is and how it will contribute to financial analysis. The SEC’s XBRL tool is then evaluated in detail in light of the model and suggestions are made for how future tools can be developed to fill the needs of individual investors.

Keywords: Evaluation rubric, XBRL, XBRL viewers, XML

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Recommended Citation: Clements, B., Schwieger, D., Surendran, K. (2011). Development of an Evaluation Model for XBRL-enabled Tools Intended for Investors. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, 4(1) pp 17-29. http://jisar.org/2011-4/ ISSN: 1946-1836. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of CONISAR 2010)