August 2000 - Journal of Accountancy

   SOFTWARE   Exhibit 3   Example of how XML, the basic extensible markup language, tags information for a book publisher. Data on the left are the tags for such information as the order number, the name of the person buying the book, the price and the author. Data on

Finally, Business Talks the Same Language (Exhibit 2) SOFTWARE   Exhibit 2   A fragment of the commercial and industrial taxonomy.

Finally, Business Talks the Same Language (Exhibit 1) SOFTWARE   Exhibit 1   A typical XBRL structure of a balance sheet that follows U.S. GAAP for commercial and industrial companies.

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WEB COMPANIES NEED CPAs just as much as traditional companies do. If you are interested in working for a Web start-up, don’t assume that a lack of dot-com experience puts you at a disadvantage. Even your conventional financial skills are in demand at Internet companies; you just

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE SYSTRUST ASSURANCE SERVICE ALLOWS CPAs to add a level of confidence to the reliability of corporate IT systems, but carries with it litigation exposure, especially from third parties. COURTS HAVE NOT YET SPECIFICALLY addressed the third-party legal ramifications of SysTrust because it is so new; but

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MANY NAVE INVESTORS COMPARE VIRTUALLY EVERY mutual fund with the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq. But these benchmarks aren’t all-inclusive and should be used only for certain kinds of funds. For other funds, CPAs need to select another benchmark to make a meaningful performance comparison. TO SELECT

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE AICPA REVISED ITS STANDARDS FOR PERFORMING and reporting on peer reviews for firms that do not audit SEC registrants. The new rules, which become effective January 1, 2001, are designed to improve the quality of financial reporting and to protect members of the public that use

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE AUDIT COMMITTEES OF CORPORATE BOARDS of directors have assumed more responsibility—and potential liability—as a result of new rules the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers and FASB enacted that took effect this year. THE RULES ARE

Driling for Information (Exhibit 9) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 9   The wizard aids in locating the general ledger data.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 8) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 8   The PivotTable Wizard helps set up a link between the spreadsheet and the database.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 7) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 7   Don’t let Access create a primary key in this table.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 6) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 6   Select In a New Table to create a transaction detail table.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 5) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 5   When accounting data include field names, Access accommodates them. Notice, too, that in response to the instruction Choose the delimiter that separates your fields , we checked Comma .

Driling for Information (Exhibit 4) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 4   Import data from your accounting software into an Access table.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 3) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 3   By clicking on John Smith’s travel expense item, Excel automatically brings up the supporting data.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 2) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 2   Double-click on an account name, such as Travel , and all the supporting data appear on the screen.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 18) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 18   Add a button command by clicking on the red circled icon.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 17) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 17   With a single click, this macro appends your accounting software data to your Access database.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 16) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 16   Set up an administration file in Excel, like this one, and you can control the process for updating the financial reports.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 15) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 15   Click on the hide detail button, circled in red.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 14) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 14   Be sure to check the Enable drilldown box.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 13) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 13   Format the PivotTable Field with a Row orientation and no subtotals.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 12) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 12   Format the PivotTable by dragging the field header tabs to their appropriate locations.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 11) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 11   Since this example is a department workbook, filter the records to include only department 100.  

Driling for Information (Exhibit 10) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 10   Filter the records in the database to include only the dates you want covered in the report.

Driling for Information (Exhibit 1) TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 1   A typical static summary financial report.

Run XBRL Right Now (Exhibit 6)   SOFTWARE   Exhibit 6   And finally, in less than 25 lines of code, the database query generates a file that is XML-compliant with the XBRL specification. This XML file is called an XBRL instance document.

Run XBRL Right Now (Exhibit 5)   SOFTWARE   Exhibit 5   This is a segment of the general ledger chart of accounts and the XBRL element plus all the other information needed to create a valid XBRL instance document.

Run XBRL Right Now (Exhibit 4)   SOFTWARE   Exhibit 4   This is the trial balance summarized by account for the period you select.

Run XBRL Right Now (Exhibit 3) SOFTWARE   Exhibit 3   This demo chart of accounts, which is in the Access database, contains XBRL elements assigned to each account line.  

Run XBRL Right Now (Exhibit 2) SOFTWARE   Exhibit 2   This demo Access application provides the functionality to select one of your accounts and then assign an XBRL element to it.

Run XBRL Right Now (Exhibit 1) SOFTWARE   Exhibit 1   Although it’s possible to enter this chart of accounts manually, it’s better to copy one of your own and use it in the demo.

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY XBRL, EXTENSIBLE BUSINESS REPORTING LANGUAGE, soon will be the lingua franca for all business reporting—from issuing financial statements to banks and shareholders to filing 10-Ks with the SEC or uploading business information onto a Web site. The development surely will revolutionize how business information is reported, used

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY GIVES financial managers the opportunity to create interactive, multidimensional reports. With the click of a few buttons, you can prepare up-to-date financial reports automatically. IN ADDITION, THE REPORTS can provide drill-down functionality. Click on a number in the report, and the underlying support data appear.