statistics new zealand and xbrl

9th International XBRL Conference

Statistics New Zealand and XBRL


Presentation OutlineOverview of Statistics New Zealand and the existing

financial data collection framework Who is Statistics NZ What are our financial data collections Compliance costs Trying to be flexible in our data collection strategies

How XBRL will fit into or even change this framework External drivers for XBRL uptake Benefits of XBRL in a data collection context Taxonomies An example of XBRL being used to meet survey requirements Looking forward


Overview of Statistics New ZealandStatistics New Zealand (Te Tari Tatau) is a government

department and New Zealand's national statistical officeThe Statistics Act 1975 sets out the Government

Statistician's role in, and responsibilities for, all official statistics

To meet its responsibilities under the Act, Statistics New Zealand's main roles are to;

Provide leadership for New Zealand's official statistics. Be the key contributor to the collection, analysis and dissemination of

official statistics relating to New Zealand's economy, environment and society.

Build and maintain trust in official statistics. Ensure that official statistics are of high integrity and quality and are

equally available to all.


Top Down ReviewStatistics NZ, Treasury and State Services Commission

participated in a review of New Zealand’s official statistics system

Main initiatives to come out of this review Establishing a new model for official statistics Leadership by the Government Statistician Monitoring respondent burden across Government Establishing an Independent Statistical Advisory Committee Establishing a research data archive


Compliance Costs of SurveysStatistics NZ is acutely aware of the compliance burdens

facing our survey respondents

Because of New Zealand’s small size even medium sized business can be key contributors in sample surveys

Some industries are surveyed more intensely than others

Some ballpark figures that relate to Statistics NZ’s direct surveying activity

130000 enterprises directly surveyed each year across 32 surveys Paper forms average between 25 and 30 minutes to complete Approximately 60000 hours or 7500 working days or 50 person years!!


Compliance Reduction StrategiesSmall businesses

Reduce compliance through use of administrative data Simple standard XBRL based templates

Large businesses Tailored collection options XBRL Initiators

Medium businesses Easy to supply options from standard business records XBRL omnibus reporting for multiple surveys


Financial Data CollectionsFinancial data is mostly collected to produce National

Accounts statistics which are based around an International Framework

The Annual Enterprise Survey is the largest comprehensive annual financial survey of New Zealand businesses.

20500 direct survey units supplemented by 225000 IR10 units Collects income, expenditure and balance sheet information from industry

groups within the economy

Less detailed subannual financial information collected by industry (manufacturing, retail and wholesale)


Accepting Alternatives to the QuestionnaireThe primary source for direct survey data is paper forms

The two main alternatives are electronic reports and hardcopies of accounts

Accounts are often actively solicited from potential non-respondents in order to achieve corporate response rates

Electronic reports are most often MS Excel spreadsheets Often larger respondents reporting for a number of survey units Statistics NZ has strict guidelines on the acceptance of electronic data in

terms of both security and authentication

Also take data over the phone and sent by email


Problems Accepting Ad Hoc FormatsAccounts

High internal processing overhead Do not always match survey variables Consolidation issues

Spreadsheets Often have unique layouts and formats Need to be customised by Statistics NZ to fit into predefined bulk loading

processes Not all questions answered (eg GST, reporting period)

Phone and email Often unstructured and has gaps More likely to be an estimate or a guess Email poses security risks


XBRL Environment Compliance costInternational Accounting Standards

Mandatory in NZ from December 2007 Early adoption from December 2005

Increasing number of offshore collection units New Zealand as a branch office

Cross Agency reporting Opportunity for single point reporting - IRD, CO, NZX, etc


XBRL - Benefits for Data SuppliersAssuming that ...

XBRL is integrated with accounting/reporting software Everyone is using the same taxonomies

Information may only need to be rendered once A single report could meet the requirements of multiple agencies

The effort required to produce reports could be greatly reduced

After initial set up reports could be generated automatically Changes in Statistics NZ requirements could feed through automatically to

collections


XBRL - Benefits for Statistics NZTimeliness

Data could be made available right at the end of the reporting period

Transparency Know exactly what items have contributed to particular variables

Lower processing costs No longer structure or format dependent

New statistics without surveying Low level data could be reassembled to meet different needs

More consistent data Automation of data supply eliminates human error Coherence at the unit record level


TaxonomiesCollection Taxonomies

Reuse of future Industry standard taxonomies, e.g. payroll May be a government wide taxonomy Total picture of requirements matched to what existing taxonomies can

provide

Publishing Taxonomies Will need to create a supplementary taxonomy for publishing statistical

data International taxonomies for national statistical agencies


Example - Quarterly Local Authority SurveyCurrently a spreadsheet completed by Auckland City

Council 3.5 hours to complete

44 variables based on accounting items from both the Income and Expenditure, and Fixed Asset schedule

Not including comments and other metadata

IT service provider :UBMatrix Wiztech providing XBRL expertise Auckland City Council - SAP/excel to XBRL Statistics NZ - XBRL to Sybase


Initial XBRL Data Collection Architecture

XBRL Instance

Document

Excel tagged

to XBRL

SAP

Excel File

Sybase

Stats Gate

XBRL Instance

Document

.Netweb

serviceS

NZ

Firew

all


How the Exchange Might WorkAuckland City Council provides an Excel output from SAP

2002/3 data

Excel tagged as XBRL and an instance document generated

Instance document sent to Statistics NZ via StatsGate StatsGate is a pre-existing secure data lodgement facility

Instance document unravelled and loaded to Sybase Sybase table planned to be the single data entry point for survey systems

to interact with


What We Have Learned So FarReceiving electronic files is relatively straight forward

It’s something we do already A fully automated end to end process is not likely in the short term

There is a significant overhead associated with supplementing the existing taxonomies with Statistics NZ elements

Of the 44 variables 24 had to be defined separately as Statistics NZ elements

These 24 are spread evenly through income, expenditure and fixed assets

Some financial surveys may be more suited to XBRL sourced data than others

Balance of Payments vs Quarterly Local Authority Survey


A hypothetical example of how Statistics NZ data requirements may not match IFRS/NZ GAAP

Supplementary Taxonomy

Salaries

WagesSalaries WagesSalariesHonoria

Redundancy Payments

Contract Freight

Rental

Subvention Payments

Bad Debts

operatingExpenses otherExpenses

operatingExpenses otherExpenses

NonOperating Expenditure

Statistics NZ Elements

IFRS/NZGAAP Elements

Ledger Items


XBRL - One Mode of ManyStatistics NZ will still receive paper questionnairesAlong with XBRL Statistics NZ may receive other

electronic modes Spreadsheets designed by Statistics NZ in a tailored environment Internet forms

Telephone interviewingRegardless of the mode Statistics NZ wants to have one

inwards data flowXBRL may provide Statistics NZ with a better way of

integrating data from multiple sourcesXBRL tags could potentially be applied to statistical output

data from all sources


Multi-Modal Data Collection Concept

InformationProviders

Respondents

Suppliers, Users, Government , etc

Futu re Methods

eg, TDE XBRL

Secure DepositBox

CATI/TDE

E-forms

Paper

C

H

O

I

C

E

SNZ

Existing

Survey

Processing

Systems

Imaging Cen tre

Phone Collection

E-gate

Providers

Existing Output and

Dissemination Processes

Strategic Overview

Multi-Modal & Data Collection Project

Provider & SNZInteraction

Multi-ChannelCommunication

AdministrativeData

CRM Facility


Issues We are Still Thinking AboutUptake – How can we promote XBRL

SMEs versus larger businesses Financial software packages

Fully automated transactions Moving towards meeting statutory obligations online

Mode effects More accurate data may result in revisions to time series


Statistics NZ’s and XBRLContinue building a picture of our future Data Collection

environmentIdentifying critical implementation issues

Realising XBRLs potential to meet our collection challenges

Collaboration Common taxonomy across Government Collaborate with other statistical agencies

XBRL potentially offers so much in terms of reduced compliance costs, transparency, accuracy and timeliness.


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statistics new zealand and xbrl

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