Exam 3 Flashcards
What are the general principles that underlie reporting?
- Necessity for concise reports
- Emphasis on both physical and monetary measures
- Frequency of reporting
- Responsibility reporting
- Reporting by function
- Comparative reporting
- Exception reporting
Concise Reports
Reports that contain only the data that are essential to the performance of the recipient’s duties.
Emphasis of physical and monetary measures
A large portion of the information used by managers is nonfinancial.McKinnon and Bruns found that production managers have a compelling preference for the use of physical measures of performance rather than monetary (financial) measures in reports covering short reporting periods.
Frequency of Reporting
Often it is assumed that the more frequently data are reported, the better. Among the factors influencing the frequency of reporting are the significance of the data, the nature of the activity being reported on, and the type of data reported (physical vs. monetary).
Type of data reported (Factor of frequency of reporting)
However, the reporting measure used is strongly associated with the optimal length of the reporting period. Production managers
consider physical measures essential in reports that cover a short period of time, but consider financial measures useful in reporting that covers a longer period of time.
Responsibility reporting
Responsibility reporting is the process of reporting data to a manager that measure activities over which the manager has some authority and for which the manager is held responsible.
Reporting by Function
Different functional areas have different ways of reporting.
Comparative reporting
The arranging together of actual data for a current period with either budget data for the current period or actual data for the prior period, thereby facilitating comparison of the data.
Exception reporting
The reporting of data reflecting a significant deviance from expected, budgeted, or normal that should be reported to managers.
Selection of records
But these criteria are usually limited to account classifications embedded in the account identifier or to the amount of an account balance. Although this does permit some selection of records, it is usually not sufficient for effective exception reporting. Effective exception reporting requires the ability to select records based on the difference between an account’s current balance and its prior year’s balance, or between an account’s actual balance and a budgeted amount.
Some examples of selection of records
Sales to customers—actual this quarter compared with budget.
Supplies expense by location—this year compared with last year.
Number of workdays lost due to work-related injuries.
Sequencing of records
In spite of an exception reporting being more concise, it still may cover several pages. Frequently, a busy manager will only complete an investigation of some items on the first page. The back-page problems will not receive adequate attention unless they emerge in future reporting periods.
Record sequencing
The process of placing data in a specified order.
eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)
- Greatly enhances the usefulness of accounting information.
- XBRL is becoming the primary format for financial reporting over the Internet and has been mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for public companies’ filings of financial statements.
XBRL benefits
- XBRL attaches identity to words and numbers
- Data can be searched and retrieved and seamlessly imported and exported by different software systems thereby eliminating time-consuming and error-prone manual data entry.
- You can quickly and easily combine the data into a consolidated report.
XBRL Background
- Note the tag is always in angle brackets, also called diamond brackets or chevrons.
- All these Web-enabled markup languages are originated from Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). SGML was originally designed to enable the sharing of machine-readable documents in large projects in government, law and industry that needed to remain readable for several decades.
- SGML is XML (eXtensible Markup Language).
- Extensible simply means users can extend the basic language by defining markup elements themselves thereby making XML much more flexible than SGML.
- XML is used specifically for Web applications.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
A markup language used specifically for Web applications. Extensible simply means users can extend the basic language by defining markup elements themselves.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is a markup language that is used to create Web pages.
Explanation of XBRL
A markup language derived from XML used for the electronic communication of specifically business and financial data. XBRL attaches an identity to words and numbers.
Tags
In XRL, a unique identifier applied to an item of financial data, such as “net profit.” However, a tag is more than a simple identifier. It provides a range of information about the item.
- we have software tools to help us in preparing tagged XBRL documents.
XBRL Solutions
- The user has to have some understanding of XBRL to use tagging software.
- There are many software programs that can tag.
- Many companies offer this service. One example is Workiva , which offers a variety of XBRL related tagging and filing solutions.
SEC Taxonomy
The SEC taxonomies are developed based on consortium established taxonomies, and they continue to work together to update these taxonomies.
- Also called US GAAP
Taxonomy
In XBRL, a dictionary of element names that represent financial reporting concepts (e.g., cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, net income) and are established by the XBRL consortium. These taxonomies are used to tag data.
International Financial Reporting Standards, General Purpose (IFRS-GP)
is for financial statements using international financial reporting standards.
Instance document
An XBRL document that has been tagged according to the rules of XBRL making it available for analysis and processing.
Four steps into creating an instance document
- Select a standard taxonomy and download this taxonomy into the XBRL software product. Taxonomies are available at no cost at xbrl.sec.gov.
- Mark up the data. Assign a specific XBRL tag from the standard taxonomy to each data item in the financial report. If an appropriate tag is not available from the standard taxonomy, the preparer can create a new customized XBRL tag.
- Edit the tagging to detect any errors. The XBRL software does this.
- Generate the instance document. The XBRL software does this.
Sequence Code
Typically, the most simple coding system used by accountants—a numerical code.
Block Coding
A complex coding system that assigns meaning to various positions within a code.
Group Code
A code that can be used to express significant amounts of information. Most often it is used in a hierarchical structure so that the largest category is identified by the first symbols, followed by increasingly detailed subcategories as you move to the right.
Mnemonic Codes
A code that expresses some logical association between the characters forming the code and the item being identified.
Promises of Audit Trails
■ the provision of a clear audit trail that is automatic to
■ the enabling of a knowledgeable and diligent computer operator to create an audit trail to
■ the inability of a knowledgeable and diligent computer operator to create an audit trail.
- Unfortunately, a significant number of packages fall into the last two categories.
Audit Trail
A set of processing references that enables the tracing of an event from its source to its designation or, alternatively, from its designation back to its source. It consists of codes (or references) attached to data as they flow through the accounting system so they can be traced from originating documents, to transaction and open files, and to their inclusion in output reports and documents and vice versa.
- Be unique and able to trace it
Reference identifier
An identifier that leads an accountant or auditor from a data item’s specific location in the accounting information system to its preceding or successor location.
Horizontal Analysis
An analysis where balances for the current financial statements are presented along with balances of prior periods for comparison.