FreeAgent Central embraces XBRL
Having picked up the 2010 Software Satisfaction Award for small business accounting software last Thursday, FreeAgent revealed plans to reconstruct its accounting engine around the XBRL data exchange standard - the basis for the iXBRL electronic filing format used by HMRC and Companies House.
“We rewrite our engine every couple of years,” FreeAgent Central founder and CEO Ed Molyneux told AccountingWEB.co.uk. “Using iXBRL will mean that we can structure the accounts within the application so that they will come out with the correct tags for final accounts and tax filing purposes.”
FreeAgent differentiates itself from other applications with an on-screen “tax timeline” that shows the user what their outsanding tax liabilities and overall cashflow are. Molyneu explained that it was vital to retain this important feature through the re-engeering process.
Accountant users of FreeAgent want a more flexible chart of accounts would, but divorcing the categorisations from their accounting and tax implications would undermine the live tax projections. In theory, basing the application’s internal accounting codes on XBRL will make it possible to link the timeline to the actual data elements that are calculated by HMRC, Molyneux said.
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