Sure beats the heck out of going to the EDGAR database, entering "MMM" into the search box, searching for Form 10-K, clicking [HTML], interpreting which file to open, scrolling down to the Table of Contents, finding the Financial Statements, scrolling down to the Statement of Cash Flows, and then scrolling up and down to get your data!

We're Not Done Yet!

The SEC's barebones, beta viewer has some awesome functionality. You can draw a chart for easy comparison between periods, or export the financial statement to Excel without having to reformat everything once it's in your spreadsheet.

Not sure what an item is? Click the description to learn more. On 3M's balance sheet, I click "Property, Plant, and Equipment, net" and I get the definition:

Tangible assets: 1) Held by an entity for use in the production or supply of goods and services, for rental to others, or for administrative purposes and 2) are expected to provide economic benefit for more than 1 year; net of accumulated depreciation.

By clicking "All Reports" at the top, I can see all of the financial statements together.

First XBRL, Then XBRL Tools

As XBRL becomes the standard, you will start to see more robust stock screeners and less costly data aggregators. Sites like Yahoo! Finance, Morningstar, Google Finance, and others will have to start presenting full financial statements to stay competitive. Though the data is free today to anyone willing to visit the SEC's EDGAR database, it is still a pain to do so.

As XBRL becomes the standard, we will enter into a whole new world of financial reporting. EDGAR changed the face of financial reporting in the 1980s; XBRL will change it again.

Don't Get Your Panties In a Bunch

Before you start drooling (like I am), we have a ways to go. XBRL is just rolling out now and it's going to start with just the largest companies. Over the next three or so years, the SEC will expand its XBRL filing requirements to eventually include all companies. As they work the kinks out of the program, it will get better and better.

And I commend the SEC for taking further initiatives. You can visit their Interactive Data Viewers page to see what else they're working on. At the time of this writing, the SEC has:

• Interactive Financial Reports,
• Executive Compensation comparisons,
• Financial Explorer to view and visualize company financial data in various ways, and
• Mutual Fund Reader to compare fund investment objectives, strategies, risks, costs, and performance.

Learn More About XBRL

You can learn more about XBRL by visiting the SEC's website (using the links I provided above) or by visiting XBRL.us. As I learn more, I'll let you know.