The SEC Reports on the SEC

The most prominent link on the SEC’s web site is an interesting one: a report of the commission’s own actions “during turmoil in credit markets.”
For some reason (perhaps because McCain called for SEC Chairman Christopher Cox’s head a few weeks ago as the crisis surged?) the commission feels the need to communicate what its doing. That need creates an odd impression: it’s as if SEC leadership views recent criticism levied against the commission (some of which hit home; some of which was off the mark) as more of a communications or marketing problem than a performance problem.

The briefing provides additional links to a series of crisis-response actions in three categories: “Aggressively Combating Fraud and Market Manipulation Through Enforcement Actions;” “Taking Swift Action to Stabilize Financial Markets;” and “Enhancing Transparency in Financial Disclosure.”

I’m most interested in the transparency-improvement bucket and am hoping that XBRL in particular receives more prominent communications treatment from the commission in the next two weeks.