Simple Tech Tool Could Cut Billions in Spending, Help Both Parties

One way of lowering the tone of rhetoric on political issues would be to make it more fact-based.

If the White House wants to try to find any kind of common ground with Rep. Issa and his Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Investigations, and to achieve its own goal of paring federal spending, it would do well to support one of Issa's pet projects, passage of S. 303, the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act.

That bill, which enjoys bipartisan support, died in the last Congress when a conference committee could not reconcile Senate and House versions. It would require all government agencies to adopt a uniform financial data standard for both their internal financial information and whatever financial info they collected from the private sector in regulatory filings.

Why is that important? Today, there's a wide range of reporting software and procedures which mean that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to quickly and easily either find out whether a government agency is efficient or to make the information that companies have to report to government easily understood and scrutinized.

While it wasn't named, most believe the best "standard" for reporting under S. 303 would be the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). It has the potential to not only cut government waste and inefficiency, but to help businesses make better decisions and cut their supply chain waste, among other benefits. The US lags behind the rest of the world in widespread implementation of XBRL.

Issa has pointed out that the GAO's annual review of the federal government's consolidated financial statements has never produced a clean audit opinion, because agencies use inconsistent standards.

Beyond the auditing problems, by not standardizing on XBRL the government is denying itself an important tool to improve decision-making and interagency cooperation.

-W. David Stephenson, HuffingtonPost.com
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More Expansion Plans for XBRL Reporting

XBRL technology may expand its reach in financial reporting even more in 2010, thanks to several efforts in Congress and the states to use XBRL as a means to reduce complexity in financial statements.

AGA Releases CPAG Report on XBRL Benefits in Grants Management

NEW! AGA Research Report: Grants Management: How XBRL Can Help:
Grants are a major conduit whereby the federal government provides funds to states and other recipients. The situation today is difficult for recipients because they have to manage multiple requirements, often for very similar grant programs, and there is no streamlined process for reporting the progress to the federal agency or agencies. Read the report.

AGA Research Study Sees Bright Future for XBRL Use in State/Local Governments

Research studied the creation of XBRL-enchanced CAFR Statements in the state of Oregon

Alexandria, VA (November 19, 2008) - Using XBRL (short for eXtensible Business Reporting Language) in public sector financial reporting is the subject of a research study, released in September 2008 by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA).

This report entitled, XBRL and Public Sector Financial Reporting: Standardized Business Reporting: the Oregon CAFR Project, studied the feasibility of developing and using an XBRL taxonomy to tag data in a state's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). It is the first actual pilot implementation of XBRL in the governmental sector.

AGA's research team built a taxonomy that tagged two statements in the Oregon CAFR: the Statement of Activities and the Statement of Net Assets. The taxonomy was used to reproduce an instance document with tagged data. The data was then rendered (reproduced) in the form of the original statements. The taxonomy included 150 Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)-compliant tagged data elements.

The report describes the research effort, provides a brief technical overview of XBRL, and contains graphics demonstrating the processes of converting the CAFR data into XBRL, creating the instance document and rendering the instance document into a readable conventional file format.

The significant findings of the research were that:

1) A CAFR taxonomy for all states would have to be at a relatively high level since line items (at least by title) are likely to vary considerably among the states.
2) There are good reasons for looking at XBRL to improve the handling, exchange and reporting of public sector financial information.
3) There is a tremendous opportunity for more research in this area and an even greater opportunity for improved municipal reporting.

AGA's CPAG Releases New Research Report on XBRL

AGA has long supported the use of XBRL to potentially improve the transparency and analysis in government financial reporting. Accordingly, AGA decided to implement a research project to study the benefits of developing and using an XBRL-taxonomy to tag data in a state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR. It was decided that the project should focus on one state pilot, with the intent that the results would prove to be helpful to other states contemplating a similar effort. Read the report, XBRL and Public Sector Financial Reporting.

Public Forum on XBRL Set For Oct. 16
Interactive data means greater accuracy, integrity and reduced cost in government reporting. Attend the XBRL Public Sector Symposium, Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16, 2008. Government employee discounts are offered.

Learn how structured data improves municipal securities processing, grants reporting, standardizing government reporting and agency collaboration.

Hear from:
Steven O. App, CGFM, Deputy Director and CFO, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Kim R. Wallin, CPA, CMA, CFM, Controller, State of Nevada
Mary Simpkins, Office of Municipal Securities, and David Blaszkowsky, Office of Interactive Disclosure, Securities and Exchange Commission
Ernesto Lanza, Municipal Securities Regulatory Board
H. Wes Bills, Nevada Department of Agriculture

AGA Executive Director Relmond Van Daniker, DBA, CPA, will moderate a session on municipal reporting in XBRL format.

Click here to find out more and to register.

New report calls for changes in financial management

Financial managers spend too much time complying with regulations and too little time helping manage costs and performance, according to a new report.

Not only are managers not getting enough meaningful performance information, financial reporting is harmed, said the report by the Association of Government Accountants and accounting firm Grant Thornton.

“One near-future possibility is the implosion of the federal financial function, resulting in a surge of disclaimer opinion on annual financial statement reports,” according to James Brimson, the author of the paper released Monday.

He suggests a new model that provides managers information needed for making sound business decisions: process-based accounting and management. Process-based accounting directly links financial data to performance data.

The key to process-based accounting is XML technology, which allows auditors to extract information from computer transactions to measure quality and quantity of work, the report said. Agencies should use their collective buying power to influence commercial off-the-shelf vendors to install XML capabilities in all new releases and upgrades, the report said.

AGA recommends agencies determine common standards for reports, increase the use of XML technology and launch a few case studies to test the new reporting system.

-M.Z. Hemmingway, FederalTimes.com

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IAC pitches XBRL

The Industry Advisory Council released a white paper on the eXtensible Business Reporting Language, an international open-standard electronic business language. The report outlines the potential benefits for the federal financial-management community, such as data traceability, consistency, flexibility, reuse and visibility. XBRL streamlines processes for collecting and reporting data. The paper may be found here.