Investor Central 1.0

Chris Liddell is Microsoft's CFO and senior vice president - finance and administration. He's also an innovator when it comes to financial reporting and XBRL.

As a member of the SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting, Liddell has helped identify ways to improve the transparency of corporate financial reporting. He's taken the insights, input, ideas, and brainstorming he gleaned from his committee service and poured it into Microsoft's new "Investor Central" site. This site is, I believe, consistent with the objectives of that committee.

Poke around the site, and you'll see how XBRL and other gee-whiz technology helps you get a clear picture of the company's performance and prospects through its financial statements.

Liddell stresses that the site, which is "intended to help investors from large institutions to retail shareholders better understand Microsoft's business strategies and our financial results," is a work in progress. He and his team plan to continue adding more features that stimulate greater transparency in the future.