This is the another name for the VAT Audit File mostly used in Europe as per OECD.The Standard Audit File was renamed ‘Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes' ‘SAF-T' to avoid any confusion.

OECD :Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

There are 30 member countries part of OECD.You can check out the details at www.oecd.org

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden,Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission also takes part in the work of the OECD.

Currently OECD have two documents

• Guidance for the Standard Audit File - Tax
• Guidance on Tax Compliance for Developers of Business And Accounting Software for Tax Purposes

Oracle support for SAF-T

If your accounting system is running on 11i10+, then you need to apply the patch 7012852.

This patch is part of European Localization requirement.

Once you apply this patch , system side its install the SAF-T/OECD feature.

You can run the report for the different report levels. The report only displays the specific section of data for the report levels.

• Payables (P): All sections except customers, sales invoices, and sales payments.
• Receivables (R): All sections except suppliers, purchase invoices, and invoice payments.
• General Ledger (G): Only header, general ledger and general ledger entries sections.
• All Levels (A): All sections.

Take a note, the standard and generic SAF-T/OECD file does not address these country-specific requirements.

The audit file in R12 is not yet available.

There are mainly three options you can think for XBRL reporting

• External - typically this is outsource to third party
  • Expensive, restricted timelines, additional review processes
  • Outsourcer is still responsible for accuracy of filing and related compliance
• Internal - this can be Bolt-on XBRL tool at the end of the reporting process
  • Addresses XBRL tagging and filing at the end of the reporting process
  • Possible lower cost but can be inefficient and time consuming due to disparate systems
• Internal - this can be your Integrated XBRL reporting
  • Integrates XBRL into an organizationfs financial close & reporting process
  • Enhance existing filing process to seamlessly integrate XBRL in a unified environment

Two useful sessions from youtube for beginners for understanding XBRL.

How XBRL Works :This Video by Charls Hoffman explaining the essence of XBRL. He took a typical financial statement footnote and demonstrates how its text can be structured for meaning.

XBRL in Plain English : Informative introductory video has lots of fun graphics and a cheerful narrative.

Earlier Post

• Back to Basics: Notes from Financial Reporting & XBRL
• XBRL & Reporting

What is XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is:

This is an international market driven corporate reporting information format standard

• XBRL is a freely available electronic language for business reporting.
• A platform for corporate reporting standards
• A tool that can enhance the quality and efficiency of business reporting
• A way to enhance the analysis of information contained within business reports
• An information standard designed specifically to enhance business information exchange
• Good is that this is available on a royalty free basis
• This is based on accepted reporting standards
• A market reality with broad and accelerating regulatory adoption around the world
• The key components of:
  • Technology = XML-based specification (information format)
  • Language / dictionary = (information)
  • Terms by jurisdiction (US, Germany,Ireland, Singapore,Japan,….)

Why this is getting popular in accounting world

• Because this provides a database-like structure, using text files
• This defines a collection of financial facts for a specific report, industry, and jurisdiction (taxonomy)
• Facilitates the data exchange between proprietary systems
• Promotes the re-use of data with far less effort

You can download a copy of Deloitte's XBRL pod cast from here. You can also download a copy of their Technology Predictions 2008 Report from the same page and refer page 14 for XBLR Information.

High point of the documents is authorities are pushing to make XBRL mandatory for the submission of tax returns and financial reports. In the US the SEC already has 40+ big companies filing XBRL tagged reports.APAC countries like China and Singapore they already started.The UK Government plans to make XBRL mandatory by 2011.

ERP Products -XBRL-enabled Products

• ORACLE : Oracle EBS as GL FSG
• PeopleSoft
• SAP mySAP financials
• Hyperion Financials
• Microsoft Business Solutions Navision

The New is XBRL Specification 2.1 & Oracle General Ledger 11i/R12

XBRL Financial Reporting is supported in General Ledger (GL) through its Financial Statement Generator (FSG).

You can map XBRL Elements to FSG Row Sets.

As per metalink note 602332.1, Oracle does not support XBRL 2.1.

Currently on version 2.0 of the taxonomy is supported by Oracle in FSG's. Lets hope XBRL 2.1 will be available by sometime early in 2009.

Similar post

• XBRL & Reporting

Suggested Reading

Improving XBRL Implementation & Interoperability
This white paper provides some technical insights into the improvements made to XBRL in the 2.1 version of the standard. It is primarily aimed at IT professionals that need to advise or make decisions about the use of XBRL. Download

Reference notes

• Note:239123.1 :XBRL Support in Oracle General Ledger
• Note 277877.1 :Setup Checklist for eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) FSG reports
• Note:297280.1 :FSG Reports Using XML Publisher

Below are some brief definitions of common terms in XBRL reporting.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a standard created by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) which allows a user to describe the structure of data. Once the data has been marked up, computer programs and software can intelligently process this data.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a form of XML designed specifically for the financial industry to increase efficiency, productivity and transparency in financial reporting.

Tags (markup language) are like bar codes used to markup and define data. In XBRL these tags can identify, describe and provide contextual information for each piece of information. These tags can be understood by a range of software applications allowing data to interface with databases, financial reporting systems and spreadsheets.

Taxonomy is a system or dictionary which contains and organizes all of the tags used to markup a document. Currently XBRL International, the SEC and other organizations are funding the building of standardized taxonomies for the different financial industries in the United States. They are organized under the broad title of U.S.-GAAP/FRIS (U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles/Financial Reporting Instance Standards).

Instance document is a document where financial data has been tagged using XBRL taxonomies.

GAAP is the common set of accounting principles, standards and procedures that companies use to compile their financial statements. GAAP is a combination of authoritative standards (set by policy boards) and simply the commonly accepted ways of recording and reporting accounting information.

A more extensive glossary is available here

While researching more on XBRL, I came across a nice site had extended list of question about XBRL, thought to bring this to everyone in Oracle Community.

1. Why should I care about XBRL?
2. What is XBRL?
3. Why should I learn about XBRL?
4. What is different about my financial reports now and using XBRL?
5. Why is the SEC involved with XBRL?
6. Is the SEC going to require my financial statements (and other filings) in XBRL format?
7. If so, when do you anticipate the SEC mandating XBRL?
8. Who is using XBRL today?
9. Why are they using this technology?
10. What is a taxonomy?
11. Are taxonomies country specific? Industry specific? Company specific?
12. Does my company need to develop its own taxonomy? If so, is this proprietary information?
13. What skills are required to create an XBRL filing?
14. It seems like the costs and burden of using XBRL are on the shoulders of financial report preparers, while all the benefits go to regulators and investors, which seems unfair. Is this the case?
15. What will it cost me to implement XBRL?
16. Does XBRL work? How do you know?
17. It seems like XBRL will be just another boon for consultants whom we have to hire to help us get the financial information into XBRL. Is that the case?
18. Is XBRL the only thing I will have to file, or will I continue to submit the current EDGAR type filings?
19. Clearly, XBRL is new and certain things will likely need to change with regard to financial reporting. What will need to change relating to financial reporting?
20. Are private companies going to have to use XBRL?
21. How will XBRL be audited?
22. What are the risks of moving to required filings to the SEC in XBRL and how are those risks being mitigated?
23. What are the benefits of adopting XBRL before the SEC requires it? What are the reasons not to adopt XBRL before the SEC requires it?
24. Is the public accounting profession ready for XBRL if it is mandated?
25. The adoption of XBRL will be a move from a "paper-based" reporting scheme, which is unstructured for the most part, to an "XBRL-based" reporting scheme, which uses structured information. That has got to cause some sort of impact on financial reporting, it seems. What will the impact be?
26. What impact will XBRL have on BI (Business Intelligence)?
27. How do I get started? How do I try XBRL?

Charlie co-author of the site , nicely answered these 27 questions in his 17 page documents.

Read this

• What CFOs need to Know about XBRL

If you are planning to rely on system Data for XBRL reporting...I would say ..test..test ...test....if you are planning to do it first time..

Early next month Finance Controller and Auditors will be quite busy in arranging XBRL reporting ,specially if they are from Singapore based registrated company.

Here is link for details for "Preparing and Filing of Financial Statements (XBRL) for ACRA " the local Govt body.

• http://www.acra.gov.sg/services/company/filing_of_financial_statement_in_xbrl_old.htm#xbrl6

Oracle E Business and Taxomony

The good is that ACRA have already made a Oracle qualified vendor for XBRL reporting, though there are very few reports which is compatible with ACRA taxonomy as reported.

Here are list of the some of Features that makes part of compatibility of ACRA.

Source : http://www.acra.gov.sg/Services/Company/Oracle_E_Business_Suite.htm

Suggested Reading

• XBRL & Reporting

Extending the last discussion in one of my post for XBRL,one of my visitor mention ,there is a new site for discussions and professional networking on XBRL, thought to let this known to Oracle community. Interested one welcome to join & participate

XBRL Network

This is network of financial officers, accountants, security analysts, software engineers, investors, employers and employees who's interest is in current developments and comments regarding XBRL. The site is very similar to Eddie's Oracle community .

The url is :http://www.xbrlnetwork.com

The url is : http://xbrlnetwork.ning.com

Looking for more information Here are some link:

• Wikipedia definition and examples of XBRL:Wikipedia XBRL
• Worldwide XBRL organizations by country:XBRL International Jurisdictions
• What is XBRL
• How XBRL works
• Specifications
• Taxonomies

If you are still in R11i , you might be heard something like "XBRL", which is technically known as eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an open specification for software that uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) data tags, together with a taxonomy, to describe business reporting, including financial information.

XBRL and XML

An XBRL taxonomy is a standard description and classification system for the contents of accounting reports, and both kind of reporting can be easily performed.

• Business Reporting
• Including important financial information

XBRL Financial Reporting Benefits

• Achieve greater transparency and auditability of your company's financial information for better auditability.
• Directly integrated with FSG – enabling XBRL Financial Reporting at the source:
  • Reuse existing FSG reports and components
  • Link your unique chart of accounts to the standardized elements of an XBRL taxonomy
  • Submit your XBRL Financial Reports in all of the FSG output options

How to Set Up XBRL Financial Reporting in EBS

We can generate XBRL output with the FSG(Financial Statement Generator), you must load one or more taxonomies into your Oracle instance. Once loaded, you select the taxonomy to use for a row set then assign XBRL elements to FSG row definitions.

Take a note , you will get taxonomies available from a number of sources,one of such is at www.xbrl.org.

Download a Taxonomy to your Oracle Instance (Adopted from Documentation)

1. Create a new directory on the same server where the database is to be used for storing taxonomy files. The directory can be an existing directory but it is recommended you create a new one. Using SQL*PLUS run create directory xmldir as <directory name>.
2. Make the directory public for read access. Using SQL*PLUS run grant read on directory xmldir to public with grant option.
3. Place the taxonomy files (usually there are six) in the directory. You can transfer them using FTP, copy, or download from a url.
4. Determine if the codeset of the taxonomy files are in the same codeset as that used in the database. If they are not the same, you must convert the taxonomy files so that they use the same codeset as the database instance.

Loading XBRL Taxonomies

1. Launch the XBRL – Load Taxonomy program from the Submit Request window. The program has three parameters:

• Taxonomy Name: Enter a unique name for the taxonomy.
• Taxonomy xsd File Name: Enter the file name, with or without the .xsd extension.
• Taxonomy Description: Enter a description for the taxonomy.

2. If a taxonomy has imports (links to other taxonomies), you must load the imports first then load the parent taxonomy.

Oracle GL 11.5.10.2 and XBRL

XBRL Publisher is a module in XML Publisher which parses the XBRL taxonomies, extracts XML schema from Oracle Reports RDFs and XML Publisher data templates, defines mapping between taxonomy elements and elements in XML-output reports and at last generate XBRL report concurrents to create XBRL instances.

Reference Notes

• Note:239123.1 :XBRL Support in Oracle General Ledger
• Note 246050.1 :About Oracle Report Generator in Financials Family Pack E
• Note 277877.1 :Setup Checklist for eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) FSG reports
• Note:297280.1 :FSG Reports Using XML Publisher