Survey reveals iXBRL tagging concerns
A survey of 200 AccountingWEB members highlighted that while many are getting to grips with the demands of creating iXBRL versions of their final accounts, concerns remain about the costs and accuracy of iXBRL tagging.
Practitioners were more prominent within the survey conducted with the DataTracks iXBRL tagging service and represented 60% of the sample. But the main concern for a third of both accounting practices and business users was accuracy of iXBRL tagging for the accounts they submit electronically to HMRC with their Corporation Tax returns.
The practicalities and economics of iXBRL accounts production and filing come down heavily in favour of letting accounts production software take care of the task and this was the case for more than half the survey sample - and four out of five of practitioner respondents. Why so many of them should register concern expressed about tagging accuracy is worrying.
The iXBRL project is still in its “soft landing” phase, but this ambivalence suggests that many accounts production software users do not fully trust their program to output a fully compliant set of iXBRL accounts at the push of a button.
Continued...
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iXBRL Tagging 2 thanks
I have been using Keytime accounts production software since iXBRL Tagging was required for accounts submission to HMRC. Although there have been one or two technical gliches in the software, these have been fixed relatively quickly and I have to say that I am very happy with the software and all our accounts submissions online, with the attached computations, have been successful.
The program is easy to use, once I had got over the initial learning curve and also the inputting of both last year's and this year's figures and I have been able to absorb the additional cost of the software with minimal fee increases for clients. Having now put in the figures for this and last year, when we come to do next year's accounts, the software will bring forward the previous year's figures, and therefore the time element for accounts production will be reduced.
If anyone is struggliung with iXBRL, then have a look at the keytime software. It is not overly expensive and it does work.
RIA got the costs wrong
Here's an extract from the RIA re: joint filing / iXBRL...
" It is assumed the work will be carried out by an accounting professional at a cost to the business of £24 per hour.
This results in a one-off cost of approximately £6.00 per company. "
Alternatives - File4
It is also worth noting that for companies that produce their accounts in-house using MS Word or Excel there is technology that addresses many of these issues. File4 is software as a service that tags Word and Excel guaranteeing accurate submissions to HMRC and minimising manual input.
It guarantees accuracy because it uses HMRC validation rules, so if it isn’t right it won’t let you proceed. It minimises manual intervention as it has an intelligent engine that ‘learns and remembers’ tagging idiosyncrasies – the more the system is used the less manual input is needed.
Note : Apologies to all, as correctly reminded by Gary, I did not make clear my position. I am indeed Gareth Bradbury, Head of Product Management at UNIT4 Business Software Ltd, and FILE4 is our solution for the corporate market for Word and Excel conversion to iXBRL.
Forum decorum
It is also worth noting that for companies that produce their accounts in-house using MS Word or Excel there is technology that addresses many of these issues. File4 is software as a service that tags Word and Excel guaranteeing accurate submissions to HMRC and minimising manual input.
It guarantees accuracy because it uses HMRC validation rules, so if it isn’t right it won’t let you proceed. It minimises manual intervention as it has an intelligent engine that ‘learns and remembers’ tagging idiosyncrasies – the more the system is used the less manual input is needed.
You wouldn't happen to be the "Gareth Bradbury, Head of Product Management for UNIT4 Business Software" would you?
A bit of 'by the way, I work for...' if you please.
Why not produce the paper account from the iXBRL file?
If the paper accounts that are signed of by the directors were produced using a tool that read the iXBRL file (with no other input other then a format template) then there would be a lot less need to worry about the quality of the iXBRL tagging, as it would be picked up quickly if it was wrong.
Tagging accounts in PDF files and spread sheets just seem the wrong way around to do it.