"There's really nothing illegal about it" is a phrase often heard in descriptions of the practice of shorting, or short-selling, which are essentially bets that a stock price will decline. But after some market watchers accused short-sellers of unfairly depressing the stock prices of several key financial institutions, the Securities and Exchange Commission imposed new rules. Wharton finance professors Marshall Blume and Franklin Allen suggest the impact will be minimal.
IDEA will ensure that both the SEC and the investors who rely upon the financial reporting the agency demands are ready for the new world of financial disclosure that will soon arrive when financial information is presented in interactive data format. The SEC has formally proposed requiring U.S. companies to provide financial information using interactive data beginning as early as next year, and separately has proposed requiring mutual funds to submit their public filings using interactive data.