Syspro supports XBRL initiative

Leading ERP software manufacturer Syspro has announced its membership and support for the XBRL initiative.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is an XML-based framework that has been developed to help prepare and exchange business reports and data. Syspro CEO Phil Duff says the company is fully committed to embracing XML as a means of exchanging data both within an organisation and between organisations.

"The world is moving towards standardisation for document exchange and both XML and XBRL offer a major step towards making these exchanges platform-independent, reliable and easy to administer," he says.

The initial goal of XBRL is to provide an XML-based framework that the global business information supply chain will use to create, exchange and analyse financial reporting information. This will include annual and quarterly financial statements, general ledger information, and audit schedules.

XBRL is freely licensed and facilitates the automatic exchange and reliable extraction of financial information among various software applications anywhere in the world. Members of the XBRL committee include a number of software companies wishing to ensure that financial reports can be published on and for the Internet using a standard vocabulary for the accounting profession.

Barry Melancon, president and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, comments: "XBRL allows companies, analysts, investors and other audiences to make better informed financial and management decisions and to leverage the capabilities of the Internet to facilitate the exchange of financial information.

"XBRL does not change existing accounting standards, it merely provides an efficient and reliable means for the exchange. Based upon standardised, underlying data tags, XBRL does not require a company to reveal any additional information beyond that which they normally disclose in their current financial statements."

Almost any software product that manages financial information could in principle use XBRL as an export or import format, thereby increasing its potential for interoperability with other financial and analytic applications.

"As a result, Syspro will benefit from participation in the XBRL Steering Committee by having early access to emerging specifications, the potential for early inclusion of XBRL capabilities in our products, and the opportunity to influence the design of the language and its future evolution," Duff says.