Many thanks to Jason Voss and the ‘Enterprising Investor’ Blog at the CFA institute for publishing this great interview with us and overview about Calcbench: http://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2015/06/24/xbrl-will-change-your-research-analyst-life/.

One of Jason’s previous posts from May (The Top Five Accounting Mistakes Analysts Make) really resonated with us because it so clearly highlighted some of the problems with current research tools which can be solved by the richness of XBRL. So we’re very pleased that he was able to follow up with this interview, allowing us to talk in detail about how XBRL can help analysts both save time, and push their research to a higher level.

Let’s take a look some of those mistakes, and how Calcbench can help:

1. Using Generalized Financial Statements

The problem? Existing data providers tend to view the world as a two dimensional spreadsheet template. Anything that doesn’t fit in that template gets discarded.

The solution? Calcbench brings you easy access to as-reported line item detail…in the financial statements and everywhere else. Plus we spread it out over time for you, and make it very easy to pop in into your Excel model.

3. Not Creating Apples-to-Apples Comparisons in Time

The problem? Income statements are computed quarterly for only 3 of the four quarters. And cash flow statements for only one of the four.  

The solution? Calcbench automatically calculates Q4 values for you on the income statement and quarterly values for the cash flow statements for our as reported and normalized metrics alike.

5. Not Reading the Footnotes

Why don’t people read the footnotes? In our opinion it is in large part because 10-Ks and 10-Qs are outdated and out of touch with how people consume data these days.

The solution? Use our interactive footnote viewer for a completely new experience. You can instantly find the information you’re looking for, plus compare it to other companies, and over time, all without ever opening up an SEC filing! Then pull out the numbers, or trace from the numbers back to the text. Best is you can do this online, or without leaving Excel.

Let XBRL start changing your life today…join Calcbench now!