But what about the small business like mine? I do the accounts myself, I submit myself, I do payroll myself, I write the code for my web site myself, I take the photographs myself, I could go on. Implementing this change will cost me money pure and simple and for no benefit. It is a disgrace.

But what about the small business like mine? I do the accounts myself, I submit myself, I do payroll myself, I write the code for my web site myself, I take the photographs myself, I could go on. Implementing this change will cost me money pure and simple and for no benefit. It is a disgrace.

The Netherlands government embarked on their National Taxonomy Project with the specific objective of streamlining business reporting. The project was initially projected to return Euros 350 million in benefit to Dutch business through process efficiencies. Certainly, the Netherlands project has failed to deliver, but that real problem with the Netherlands project is that it remains voluntary, not mandatory.

A review of the project benefits resulted, as so often does, in a revision of the estimated benefit. In this case however, the revision has been to increase the projected benefit to Euros 1 billion annually, from the Euros 350 million.

What does this mean for the UK? Simply that the effective implementation of XBRL for HMRC reporting opens the door to process improvements by accountants, and the potential for improvements in reporting processes to other government agencies, both national and local, ultimately reducing the administrative and compliance burden on businesses. Software providers will incorporate XBRL into their processes, certainly as output options. Additional taxonomies will be developed, or existing taxonomies will be extended to cover a wider range of reporting elements for various consumers, and ultimately business will find it easier to produce the information required.

Those that speak of an increased burden are looking at the short term only.

These are the same people who would have opposed the introduction of computing to accounting, as it would have increased complexity and cost. After all, people are cheaper, and we already know how to produce large paper based volumes on A3 width journals. Computers will cost us too much, and it will take years to see any tangible benefit.

Lets look at this another way – XBRL is to business reporting what the Internet is to the paper-based Yellow Pages. Information streamlined, current, available to those that need it, and accurate. The investment today will reap process efficiencies and benefits beyond what we can see from the current project(s).

Extra reporting tools, or custom formats are reasonable extras, but not statutory requirements.