Standard business reporting
Government consultation on mandatory XBRL financial reporting – closes March 2013
The Standard Business Reporting Program (SBR) is a government program administered by the Treasury, designed to reduce the reporting burden for business. Both commonwealth and state government agencies are participating in the program.
SBR offers a quicker and easier way for businesses to complete their government reporting requirements, freeing up valuable time for other business activities. SBR is simplifying business-to-government reporting by:
- removing unnecessary or duplicated information from government forms
- using business software to automatically pre-fill forms
- adopting a single reporting language, based on international standards and best practice
- making financial reporting a by-product of natural business processes
- providing an electronic interface to agencies directly from business software, similar to an electronic postal system, which will also provide validation and confirm receipt of reports
- providing a single secure online sign-on, AUSkey, for users to report electronically to all of the agencies involved.
You can lodge the following forms with us (via SBR) through your financial, accounting or payroll software if it is SBR-enabled:
- 388 - Copy of financial reports
- 405 - Statement to verify financial reports of a foreign company
- 406 - Annual return of a foreign company
- FS70 - Profit and Loss statement and Balance Sheet
- 7051 - Notification of Half Yearly reports
Financial reports are attached with the above forms (PDF format financial reports are mandatory and XBRL financial reports are optional addition to PDF lodgement)
Is your software SBR-enabled?
Since 1 July 2010, software developers have been progressively SBR-enabling their products
Software providers have the choice of SBR-enabling any or all of the forms in scope for SBR.
If you would like to lodge any of the ASIC forms listed above through your software, you will need to check with your software provider that it is SBR-enabled for that particular form.
Will it cost me anything to use SBR?
SBR is accessed only from your accounting, financial or payroll software, and the government has not charged any party for the use of the SBR facilities.
What do you need to do before you lodge?
You will need an AUSkey to lodge forms with us through your SBR-enabled software.
AUSkey is a single key for accessing government online services. It is common to all the government agencies participating in SBR-enabled reporting and over time will allow you to login to a range of other business to government websites.
To ensure you are set up and ready to start SBR enabling reporting, we recommend registering for an AUSkey and installing it prior to using your SBR-enabled software to report to us.
Where do I register?
You can visit 
www.abr.gov.au/auskey to:
- Register for an AUSkey
- Learn more about AUSkey
- Find out which other government agencies accept AUSkey
Linking your AUSkey to ASIC
Some entities may be required to link their AUSkeys to ASIC by providing their ABN to ASIC.
How to link your AUSkey to ASIC
Financial reports in XBRL format
The financial reports that are required as attachments to all ASIC SBR forms can be lodged in two formats: in PDF format and also in XBRL format.
The PDF and/or paper financial reports are mandatory; the XBRL format is readable only by specific software and is an optional addition to the PDF or paper lodgement. Both formats are stored in DocImage as part of the lodgement and both are retrieved as part of a Document search.
Government consultation on mandatory XBRL financial reporting – closes March 2013
The Government is consulting on whether to mandate XBRL financial reporting. The consultation paper can be found on the Treasury website.
What is XBRL?
XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It has been developed by the global accounting community for financial reporting. SBR is using XBRL as the single language for accounting systems to communicate electronically with government.
XBRL is used to map meaning to financial and accounting information to allow the pre-filling of less complex reports to government, and to simplify aggregation of financial data that can be assembled as the basis of complex financial reports. XBRL lodgements will provide tagged financial report data that can provide quicker and more accurate comparisons of company financial performance to guide investors.
For more information on XBRL go to the learning modules at www.sbr.gov.au.
XBRL Reader Software
To analyse financial reports in XBRL format you will need to use XBRL reader software.
XBRL reader software can be obtained from many various providers. A list of these providers, type of software (including freeware) can be found by inputting 'xbrl reader' into your preferred search engine.
How to obtain a copy of a form that has XBRL data attached
If financial reports lodged via SBR contain optional XBRL financial reports, you will be able to locate a copy of the XBRL data file using ASIC's current search facilities (see ASIC Connect). XBRL data will be provided when an application for copies of documents (Document search) is made with ASIC or an information broker and the delivery option of email or web is selected.
You will be able to see if a form has an XBRL data file attached when you conduct a search of our Organisation & Business Names. Documents that have an XBRL data file attached will have the logo displayed against the document.
Financial reporting taxonomy development
ASIC is the business owner of the financial reporting taxonomy within SBR.
More about financial reporting taxonomy development
More information about Standard Business Reporting (SBR)
Visit www.sbr.gov.au for more information about:
- the SBR program
- SBR-enabled software
- other government agencies that are participating in SBR
More for preparers of financial reports
ASIC Website: Printed 06/18/2013
