23/2009
21 April 2009
The Rudd Government’s strategy to reduce regulatory reporting burden on Australian businesses, the Standard Business Reporting initiative, is on track to be implemented by July 2010.
Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner said that the Standard Business Reporting (SBR) design had been finalised and work had commenced on building the major components of the solution.
“Current reporting requirements are a significant burden on business and we are committed to reducing that burden,” Lindsay Tanner said.
“Standard Business Reporting will simplify business-to-government reporting and save Australian businesses close to $800 million annually when fully implemented.”
Thirteen Australian, state and territory government agencies have been working with software developers, businesses, accountants, bookkeepers and other business intermediaries to develop an appropriate solution.
SBR’s six pilot partners (Beacon IT Group, Frontier Software, MYOB, PayGlobal, Software Objectives, and Software Systems and Instrumentation) are currently testing connectivity between business and government in a pilot of the SBR design.
IBM Australia has now been contracted to build the core service components of SBR. Similar to an electronic postal system, SBR’s core services will enable businesses and their intermediaries to securely submit their regulatory reports to government directly from their accounting software if it has been SBR enabled.
SBR will enable businesses to report to a range of Australian, state and territory government agencies using a single financial reporting language (XBRL). Examples of the reports that are within SBR’s current scope include Business Activity Statements and PAYG returns (ATO), financial statements (ASIC), and payroll tax (SROs).
Lindsay Tanner said: “This initiative is a great example of government agencies working together to reduce the regulatory reporting burden on businesses.
“I encourage those with a significant role in reporting financial information to government to attend the free SBR conference in May 2009.”
Further details about SBR, including the SBR Program, SBR AU taxonomy and SBR conference are available online at www.sbr.gov.au
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| Media Contact: | Website: |
|---|---|
| Nardia Dazkiw - 0418 144 690 | www.financeminister.gov.au |
| For more information on SBR, please contact Judy Huxley (02) 6263 2745 or visit: www.sbr.gov.au | |
