A new type of data processing that slices and dices financial numbers in split seconds is headed for Wall Street. It's a big opportunity for the bright, and a death knell for the complacent.

This machine-readable computer language - called XBRL - standardises financial data from around the world and enables instant analysis. That should sound groovy to number-crunchers, but few have heard about it - yet.

"It's something like the introduction of Excel or the internet, in that it makes information more accessible, faster and more accurate," said Dane Mott, a Bear Stearns accounting analyst who has been promoting XBRL on Wall Street. "Analysts aren't very educated about this."

They'd better watch out. XBRL, which stands for extensible business reporting language, is gaining momentum. US regulators are likely to require companies to file their final 2008 results in XBRL format. China, Japan and others already mandate it, or are poised to do so.

"The technology has hit the 'wow factor' stage," said Diane Mueller, the chairwoman of the 16th annual XBRL International Conference, in Vancouver.

Once companies start translating news releases and exchange filings into XBRL, that wealth of information becomes instantly available.

The next step is to expand XBRL into industry metrics, such as sales per square metre for retailers, or teach it to read numbers in text, such as profit warnings.

Whoever gets a handle on this stuff ahead of the crowd will have a field day.

"The analysts are going to have to up their game," said Dan Roberts, a Grant Thornton director who served as the US chairman of XBRL. "If you're selling whale oil to light your home, electricity has arrived!"

XBRL-savvy analysts could analyse bucket-loads of company data, freeing them up to "kick the tires" for original research and making them sound smarter on conference calls with company chief financial officers and fund clients.

Plus, traders who retool their "black box" computerised trading programmes will have a big speed advantage over those who say: "XBRL what?"

Wall Street analysts these days know that pushing out plain research notes on company results or tweaking profit estimates doesn't cut it anymore.

The research chief of HSBC Holdings, Graham Copley, gave his London analysts a verbal lashing last year, saying they produced mostly "worthless flashnotes".