The calls for making XBRL mandatory are getting louder.

Short for “eXtensible Business Reporting Language,” XBRL is a tagging technology that allows companies to electronically communicate their business and financial data to investors and other users of financial statements. It’s so revolutionary that supporters say the SEC should require companies to use it.

Some officials within the SEC seem to agree. According to CFO.com, the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting is suggesting that all public companies should be required to use XBRL to file their financial statements within three years. “In the near term,” writes CFO.com’s Sarah Johnson, the CIFR says “the largest companies could be required to use (XBRL) to tag their financial data and share that information with the SEC without an external auditor’s review. ”

All of this could play a role in the ongoing convergence of financial reporting standards. This article, featured in an earlier post about convergence, takes a closer look at what XBRL means for the convergence movement.

Read more about XBRL here, then tell us: Are you ready to embrace this new technology?