The impact of XBRL on the financial reporting supply chain: a South African case study

Abstract

In recent times there have been major developments in the areas of digitising business information, which can impact the financial reporting supply chain. Such developments include the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) technology. The South African regulator of financial services and a major South African retirement fund administrator were recently the first South African organisations to embark on an XBRL proof of concept initiative as part of an attempt to enhance their financial reporting supply chain, from initial data recording, to the submission of the reports, to the analysis of the data. This paper provides highlights of this initiative against the background of current XBRL developments, the financial reporting supply chain and the digitising efforts of such supply chains.