IoB follow-up project in SimplBooks: export of sales and purchase invoices in XBRL GL format
At the end of January, webinars on data-based reporting and accounting were held in Estonian and English as part of the IoB follow-up project. The aim of the IoB follow-up project, which started a year ago, is to develop a standard for information on economic transactions (entries) to report the economic activities of the entire company. The webinar was attended by ITL, the Estonian Association of Accountants – ERK, SimplBooks, Tieto Estonia, Unifiedpost Estonia, Columbus Estonia, BCS Itera, AccountStudio and Skriining.
Jaanus Reismaa, CEO of SimplBooks OÜ, explains the need for participation in the project from the angle of micro and small enterprises: “SimplBooks is one of the leading ERP software providers for micro and small enterprises in Estonia. I dare say that SimplBooks also represents micro and small companies in this project. Micro or small businesses form up to 95 percent or even more of all businesses combined in many countries, so we see this project as a great start to provide greater automation for small businesses that have been owned by larger companies so far but we hope to change things in the future.”
There is now an application that can interface with data-based reporting. How should you approach small business software?
According to Jaanus Reismaa, CEO of SimplBooks LLC, the possibility of interfacing X-Road is certainly such a thing which also speaks to small businesses that it is possible to submit reports at the touch of a button. The information in the entries is standardized, i.e. we have come a step closer to open data in accounting.
SimplBooks now allows you to export sales invoices and purchase invoices in XBRL GL format. By default, this export option is not turned on in any environment but can be easily changed in the environment settings. See the user manual here!
Will SimplBooks offer MyCompanyData service?
Jaanus Reismaa comments: “In general, it could be said that ‘yes’, but at the same time it depends on demand, because small companies do not have too many resources, the need for service largely depends on the demand and we set our activities correspondingly. With this project, it has become clear that the capacity exists. So far, such a solution has not been highly requested, it seems that it is not expected from the business software of small enterprises, or there are very few of them among our customers who have to submit reports to Statistics in Estonia.”
Security and use of the service
Customers may choose between using or not using the service. According to Reismaa, the service is secure: “In terms of security, there is still quite a misconception that data is more secure when it is stored on your personal computer. It is only true if your computer and the files on it are not connected to the Internet in any way. There are practically no major changes to MyCompanyData compared to other cloud services, because the data is equally in cloud and secure.
What can the Tax Agency do to further automate the calculation of taxes in ERP systems?
“On the part of micro and small enterprises, I think that the Tax Agency is doing quite a good job, but it will still take time to introduce the XBRL GL format, for example. On the small business side, VAT and social tax reports are the most important issues that need to be solved, but I believe things are moving in that direction,” explains Reismaa.
How will participating in such a project affect the future of SimplBooks?
As stated by Reismaa, all entrepreneurs will ultimately benefit from this project: “A good start has already been made, but a lot of work is still ahead. It is principal that customers know what to ask for and what to expect. Today, we can also notice among our customers that frequently entrepreneurs do not know how to ask for solutions actually existing.”
In the opinion of the IoB project manager Sirli Heinsoo, this project is a perfect example of how different parties in one sector join their efforts and come up with good solutions. Input from each party helps to improve the overall solution.
Webinar in English can be viewed here (panel discussion starts from 1:37:22):
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