Standard Business Reporting (SBR) Overview

Gianluca Garbellotto, IPHIXEfficient and Effective Government

Reporting - Ottawa, October 17 2012

Overview

• Standard Business Reporting (SBR) is a group of international programs based on XBRL and designed to reduce the business-to-government reporting burden

• Started in The Netherlands in 2003, SBR was then adopted in Australia in 2006 and is currently being considered by other countries

• Key features: – Cross-government– Multi-agency– Multiple forms/domains– Standards, including but not limited to XBRL, are enablers

• Key focus: costs reduction for businesses – and Government• Closed reporting environment, mainly form based

Background - Banks Report 2006

• The Australian Government should:– Encourage departments and agencies to

systematically use information technology to reduce business compliance costs, and consult with business in doing so; and

– Provide resources to ensure business is aware of information technology solutions

– Develop and adopt a business reporting standard within the Australian Government sphere by 2008, based on the Netherlands model and work undertaken by the Australian Tax Office (ATO)

What is SBR?

• www.sbr.gov.au – and of course www.sbr-nl.nl • Standard Business Reporting (SBR) is an Australian

Government initiative to reduce the business-to-government reporting burden

• Streamline business-to-government reporting through their SBR-enabled accounting/payroll software

• Using SBR-enabled software will allow Australian businesses to prepare and lodge key government forms directly from their software to SBR partner agencies

• Businesses will need to register for an AUSkey which will allow them to send reports via SBR.

Primary aims of SBR – where the savings are

• Standards to reduce cost to business• Single language to report to government• Harmonisation and reduction of reported data• Ability to map/attach meaning to business and

financial data • Reporting data becomes a by-product of normal

business record keeping/accounting processes• Have reports pre-filled in business software• As far as possible – automate the reporting

process

Secondary aims

• Send reports electronically, directly from business software

• Real time lodgment• Receipt and/or meaningful error messages• Use of “core services” for submission not

essential

Scale of the SBR Programs

• The Netherlands– 3 agencies– 1.5 million businesses– Reporting elements reduced from 200,000 to

4,500 (-98%)• Australia

– 12 agencies– 2.1 million businesses– Reporting elements reduced from 9,648 to 2,838

(-71%)

Australian SBR Program

• Live in July 2010• Cost: AUD 170M • Estimated cost savings from the original

business case: AUD 800M/year• Take-up very low, savings so far have been

minimal– Incomplete bundle of forms in scope– Tentative marketing from participating agencies– Parallel, more traditional filing channels still in place

Australian SBR Program

• An independent May 2012 report commissioned by the Australian Government estimates cost savings for the next few years in AUD 500M/year

• ATO confirmed the transition of all its forms within SBR

• Significant increase in scope: Superannuation industry– 100M transactions per year– Cost over 3.5 billion

• More information http://iphix.net/update-australian-standard-business-reporting-sbr-program/

Basic Components of SBR

DefinitionalTaxonomy

Messaging InfrastructureCore Services

Business Software Government Agency

STANDARDIZED FORMAT

Web

ser

vice

s

Web

ser

vice

sSTANDARDIZED CONTENT

REGISTRATION AND ASSERTION

AUTHENTICATION TOKEN

AuthenticationAUSkey

ReportingTaxonomies

COMMON LANGUAGE

Taxonomy

• The SBR taxonomy has two main layers– Definitional taxonomy– Reporting taxonomies

• Definitional – dictionary of agreed terms that comprise the common language

• Reporting – specific structures (expressed in the common language) for the exchange of data

Information Classification A

A.1

A.2

B.1

B.2

…

Agency X

Report X.1

Report X.2

Agency Y Agency …

Report Y.1

Report Y.2

Definitional Taxonomy

Reporting Taxonomies

Define the concept once…

… re-use on many reportsAddress Wages & Salaries

Information Classification B

How the SBR Taxonomy Works

Core Services

• Provide the infrastructure to facilitate transfer of messages between businesses and agencies

• Operates as a ‘post office’, directing messages through a single channel from any business to multiple government agencies

• Maintains the privacy of each data transaction– Only the transport information is analysed –

business content remains “unopened”– Messages are not stored in CS

Core Services

• Uses web standards– open standards for transport, messaging,

description and security– standards documented in the Software

Developer’s Kit, in particular the Web Services Implementation Guide (WIG)

– Web services: List, Pre-fill, Pre-lodge, and Lodge

COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE

Intermediary

Business

GOVERNMENTBUSINESS

BCOA

TAXON

OMY

COMPUTER INSTALLED WITH “SBR COMPATIBLE” ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE

PACKAGE

COMPUTER INSTALLED WITH “SBR COMPATIBLE” ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE

PACKAGE

ReportATO

Report

SRO.

ReportASIC

UPDATE AND USE

SERVICE DELIVERY PLATFORM

TAXONOMYDEVELOPMENT

OR

CH

ES

T RA

TIO

N

IDENTITY MANAGEMENT

REGISTRYSERVICE

SB

R S

ecu

rity

So

lut i

on

DESIGN INTEGRATION ASSURANCE IT OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT

Supports

AgenciesCore Services

BCOA

TAXON

OMY

Response

Bespoke solutions, SBR enabled

Computer installed with SBR compatible software

Fund / Intermediary

BUSINESS / FUND

Core Services

Response

Response

Authentication

• AUSkey• Single secure credential to authenticate

businesses lodging reports via SBR• Available via the Australian Business Register• Balance between useability and security

SBR Compatible

• What do we mean when we say ‘SBR compatible’?– Common reporting language – Definitional

taxonomy– Used in a report structure for reporting to

Government• Can be re-used for other reporting

– Standard interfaces -> Core Services

SBR Future Scope

• Cooper Review – Future superannuation recommendations

• Not For Profit – Proposal paper to the Council of Australian Governments

• Henry Review• Department of Human Services• Lending Industry XML Initiative - Collaboration

to extend SBR Taxonomy beyond Governance• Additional forms for existing agencies

Your Speaker

Gianluca GarbellottoIPHIX, CEOXBRL Global Ledger Working Group, Chairgg@iphix.netTwitter: @iphixbrlBlog: http://iphix.net/blog