Record to Report

Record to report is the process of recording financial transactions that eventually make their way to the financial report.  This blog post summarizes information related to recording transactions into an accounting system database prototype that I created in Microsoft Access, representing that transaction information using XBRL, summarizing the transaction information into what would go onto a financial report, and then generating that financial report in the global standard XBRL technical format. Here is all the raw material and results:

In this prototype to make things easer to represent, I focused on general journal transactions.  Subsidiary ledgers would work in a similar manner, there would just be significantly more details.  The set of transactions here is small, about 22 journal entries.  I have done the same experiment with sample data that contains about 22,000 transactions.  The transaction volume is not really relevant, any number and type of transactions will work the same way.  Here is a screen shot of the general journal transactions information that I used in this experiment: (click here for larger image)

While I would not necessarily consider this approach elegant or optimal; it does work and XBRL is a global standard.  The same thing can be created in many different ways using, say, RDF and a semantic database, GQL syntax and a graph database, PROLOG syntax and a PROLOG database.

What would be quite interesting is to see a report generated where you can drill down from the report to the GL transactions that make up the aggregate in the report.  Also, "drill up" from a transaction to where that transaction ended up on the financial statement would be great to see.

Additional Information:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Microsoft CEO: "AI Agents will Replace All Software"

Image
We have entered the "agentic era"; the era of the agent or intelligent software agent . Others refer to this as the "algorithmic economy".  Maybe think many very intelligent  microservices  exchanging information with each other and can work globally. In an interview with BG2, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicts that (paraphrasing) SaaS (software as a service) is dead and that AI agents will replace all software. The entire interview is the first link in "Additional Information" below.  These three videos provide a focused look at this statement: LinkedIn post including short video AI Insights Explorer video  (Microsoft CEO Predicts: "AI Agents Will Replace ALL Software") Microsoft CEO's Shocking Prediction: "Agents will replace ALL software" Here is my personal interpretation of what Satya Nadella is saying and what it means.  First, Nadella says that we are "on the brink of a monumental shift".  I agree with that statem...
Read more

New Tool for Accountants, Auditors, Analysts

Image
A new type of tool will be available (is becoming available) to support professional accountants.  This tool is somewhat similar to the traditional electronic spreadsheet but it works differently and provides different capabilities to professional accountants. This new tool will supplement the arsenal of tools available to accountants, auditors, and analysts. This new tool is semantic oriented, model-based, and a global standard technical format.  To describe this tool in the past I have used the terms " modern spreadsheet " and " professional knowledge graph " and " deductive apparatus " and " semantic oriented accounting and audit working papers " and " knowledge product " and " logical spreadsheet " and " logic programming " and " logical digital twin of financial reports ". This new type of tool will help usher in modern accountancy . In this new era, machines will support accountants, auditors, and ana...
Read more

Named Graphs

Image
A named graph is a concept in the Semantic Web architecture where a set of Resource Description Framework ( RDF ) statements (a graph) are identified using an internationalized resource identifier ( IRI ). This allows for descriptions to be made about that set of statements, such as context, provenance information, or other metadata. In an RDF database, a named graph is essentially a subset of data that has been given a unique label (referred to as a name). A graph database can contain multiple named graphs alongside its default graph, and each fact can be present in or absent from any graph. Named graphs form a patrician of information that can be used. Named graphs are useful for managing sets of RDF data within an RDF store, enabling fine-grained access control, and managing chains of provenance for pieces of data. Additional Information : Named Graphs (ScienceDirect) Graph Search Algorithms: Developer's Guide Named Graphs, Chapter 5. Data Management Patterns Wolfram, Nonahed...
Read more