XFire Enables Data Sharing

With its sights set on improving the usability and portability of statutory financial information through the use of XBRL (Extensible Financial Reporting Language) and a common statutory reporting database, IASA (Insurance Accounting and Systems Association, Durham, NC) has formed a partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (New York, PwC) for the creation and adoption of the X-Fire (XBRL Financial Reporting) Database.

The first-of-its-kind database and toolkit of software applications is designed to allow insurers to convert their statutory reports into an XBRL format that will enable standardized internal and external information sharing, relates Joe Pomilia, executive director, IASA. X-Fire will integrate with PwC's TeamMate-audit documentation software that is currently used by 40 state regulators for the statutory reporting process, says Pomilia.

In an effort to populate the database, IASA is providing free database access to IASA members in exchange for voluntary submission of statutory information for a limited time of three months. Non-IASA members can access the database on a subscription basis. Once the free access time period is up, IASA members can gain a discount subscription.

IASA's X-Fire uses an XBRL standard method of applying XML descriptions that are tagged to each data element. XBRL is an XML-based, royalty-free and open standard developed by a consortium of more than 170 companies from a variety of industries.

Pomilia contends that the XBRL format will be beneficial to the insurance industry, suggesting it has great potential for reducing redundancies and inefficiencies because the XBRL format will enforce standardization.