Efficient financial reporting with taxonomy software

WeinAllianz GmbH submits reports based on XBRL taxonomies

Federal Gazette, e-balance sheet, financial report – all of these are legally defined electronic financial reporting obligations which companies must submit to the authorities on a regular basis; they require a great deal of time and organisation and are also costly. However, rather than creating each document individually and having to re-enter all the data time and time again, there is a simpler way. Thanks to software solutions, financial reporting can be made significantly more efficient. In the case of the Opti.Tax software from hsp Handels-Software-Partner GmbH, the reports are even generated on the basis of the legally prescribed XBRL taxonomies, ensuring there is no media discontinuity when they are submitted to the authorities.

“I fought tooth and nail against the e-balance sheet,” recalls Benedikt Fischer, authorised signatory at WeinAllianz GmbH. His concern was transparency, and even before that he had been preparing the financial reports for the various producers entirely without the use of any software. But when an urgent letter from the tax office arrived and his tax adviser was unable to generate an e-balance sheet using DATEV, things got dicey. How on earth was he supposed to manage that in just a few days? He began to do some research and, whilst looking through Elster’s software recommendations, came across the products from hsp Handels-Software-Partner GmbH. After watching a few videos of the taxonomy software Opti.Tax, he was convinced. He contacted the company in Hamburg; they quickly reached an agreement, and even the tight deadline was no problem. “The fact that I’m now working with the software stems from an emergency situation back in 2016, and I’ve gone from being a sceptic to an absolute fan,” admits Benedikt Fischer.

The taxonomy software was implemented within three days. As the interface with the financial accounting system was not working, the data was imported as an Excel spreadsheet with the help of the hsp support team. In a two-hour online training session, Fischer learnt the basics of the software and was then immediately able to create the e-balance sheet and send it to the tax office. Populating the taxonomies is intuitive and is made easier by an interview mode that guides the user through the software. Assignments to the taxonomy are made using the supplied assignment templates or via drag-and-drop. “I save a great deal of time now because I use a single template for all 20 producer companies. The costs and benefits of the software are really well balanced here,” says Fischer.

Software that saves time

After he had electronic balance sheet Once we were able to deliver on time and were no longer under time pressure, we had to comply with other statutory electronic obligations. This was followed by financial reporting for the Federal Gazette, the digital annual accounts and, as our latest project, in early 2019 the digital financial report for the bank. For Fischer, one of the software’s advantages – which also saves time – is the copy function, which has been available since last year. This allows data to be copied from one project and pasted into another with a single click.

Although he used to provide as few details as possible, he is now convinced that the high level of detail the software enables brings mainly benefits. As a result, there are fewer enquiries from the authorities, and when tax inspectors are on site, everyone has access to comprehensive information. Detailed financial reporting is made easier by the option to include attachments. This feature is used by WeinAllianz with every submission.

For Paul Liese, Managing Director of hsp Handels-Software-Partner GmbH, customer feedback is always important: “We are constantly on the lookout for new solutions and improvements, and to do this we need to know first-hand what we can optimise.” He is particularly pleased that WeinAllianz compiles and submits its annual report directly on the basis of the XBRL taxonomies required by law in Germany. Due to a lack of suitable software, very few companies do this nowadays. Instead, they have to convert the reports internally before submission – an unnecessary step that takes up time. The next project at hsp is to ensure that the company’s data is also transmitted directly to Creditreform via the annual accounts. This is a tool that will certainly be used by WeinAllianz as well, as the forms are currently sent by fax.

“For me, the environmental statement and the other reports were really a nightmare. Today, I’m grateful for the software. I used to do the same work three times over and had a lot of trouble with the documentation. Now, I can do all of this with a single product, which is a huge advantage,” sums up Benedikt Fischer.