The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it will host a series of roundtables throughout 2006 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., focused on speeding the implementation of new Internet tools that will help provide investors and analysts with better financial information about companies and funds.

The roundtables will review the experiences from the first year of a pilot program to use so-called interactive data for company filings with the SEC. Approximately a dozen companies participated in the voluntary program in its initial year.

The SEC says that the roundtables will use the lessons learned from the pilot program in order to develop new ways to get analysts and investors significantly better information. It suggests that interactive data will permit Internet users to search for and use individual items of information from financial reports, such as net income, executive compensation, or mutual fund expenses.

Topics will include what investors and analysts are looking for in the new world of interactive data; how to accelerate the use of new software that permits the dissemination of interactive financial data; and how to best design the SEC’s requirements for company disclosures to take maximum advantage of the potential of interactive data.

Representatives from investors, issuers, auditors, analysts, technology professionals, regulators, and others will be invited to the roundtable discussions.

The first roundtable in the series will be held on June 12, and will focus on how best to serve the needs of analysts and investors with interactive data. Subsequent roundtable discussions will be held later in the summer and fall.

“It is now within our reach to get dramatically more useful information in the hands of investors,” said SEC chairman Christopher Cox, in a release. “We look forward to these discussions on implementing interactive data initiatives that can benefit investors as quickly as possible, and we welcome the opportunity to learn from investors and other users of financial information how the SEC can improve our own disclosure program.”

The commission also announced that it is seeking written feedback from investors, registrants, auditors and others on their experiences with interactive data.