IN BRIEF | SBR PROGRAM

MAKING BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT REPORTING SMARTER,
QUICKER AND EASIER

Standard Business Reporting (SBR) will reduce the business-to-government reporting burden by:

• removing unnecessary and duplicated information from government forms;


• utilising business software to automatically pre-fill government forms;


• adopting a common reporting language, based on international standards and best practice;


• making financial reporting to government a by-product of natural business processes;


• providing an electronic interface to enable business to report to government agencies directly from their accounting software, which will provide validation and confirm receipt of reports; and


• providing business with a single secure online sign-on to the agencies involved.

SBR has been co-designed by Australian, state and territory government agencies in partnership with software developers, business and their accountants, bookkeepers, tax agents, payroll providers, and other business intermediaries.
Led by the Australian Treasury, the agencies participating in SBR are the Australian Prudential

Regulation Authority (APRA), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC),
Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and all State and
Territory Government revenue offices (SROs).

Australian business will save around $800 million per year when SBR is fully implemented.
SBR is focussing on financial reporting first, since this affects most businesses. Examples of
the forms-in-scope include the Business Activity Statement (ATO), Financial Statement (ASIC) and Payroll Tax (SROs).

SBR won¢â‚¬â„¢t just make business-to-government reporting easier, it will also enable the
streamlining of the movement and use of financial information along the entire reporting chain
¢â‚¬ from business and intermediaries through to analysts, investors and regulators.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is increasingly being adopted as the preferred means for sharing financial information in a computerised form by accounting and financial reporting industries globally.

Many governments ¢â‚¬ including US, Japan, UK, Netherlands, China, Singapore, India, South Africa and New Zealand ¢â‚¬ have either implemented XBRL or announced plans to introduce XBRL for financial reporting.

Australia is building on the lessons learnt from the Netherlands SBR program, which is also
aimed specifically at reducing regulatory reporting burden.

For more information
The SBR website (www.sbr.gov.au) provides further information about the SBR program,
including information tailored for software developers, business and their accountants,
bookkeepers, tax agents, payroll providers and other business intermediaries, and participating government agencies.

For more information please contact SBR on sbr@treasury.gov.au.