Feds dally on digitisation, search fees

Tom Ravlic

The Federal Government is dragging its heels on responding to the recommendations of the audit regulation inquiry conducted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services and there are organisations in the accounting profession that are not happy.

This unhappiness with the slow progress being made was evident earlier this week during a public stakeholder meeting held by the Financial Reporting Council.

FSC enthusiasts were deabting recommendations of a report that seemed largely benign, and offered some greater transparency into audit processes. 

A key issue raised by delegates from the accounting world was that the digitisation of financial reporting – a recommendation supported by a range of stakeholders – is yet to be properly progressed.

The language was understated and diplomatic, but the message was clear. There are people in the accounting profession and the academic sector frustrated that progress is yet to be made on a recommendation that could ultimately make access to financial statements easier and less costly.

That is at least what various observers to this process would like to happen given the numerous complaints about the existing system that winds up costing journalists and academics money when they are seeking information from the pricey ASIC database.

It is understood that one of the reasons for the hold-up has been working out what a reporting option that provides data in a format to users who want it for analysis purposes might cost the government.

Consider the fact that the present model also has various information brokers that hook into the ASIC database and provide some access to materials for a fee to their customers.

Is it this issue that concerns people when it comes to number crunching the proposals to make data more easily accessible?

And also, in a more perfect world, way, way more affordable.