Business Reporting on the Internet
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BUSINESS REPORTING ON THE INTERNET A REPORT PREPARED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS COMMITTEE BY ANDREW LYMER UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM UK ROGER DEBRECENY NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE GLEN L. GRAY CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT NORTHRIDGE USA ASHEQ RAHMAN NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE NOVEMBER 1999 This Discussion Paper is issued by the IASC staff to stimulate thinking. The Discussion Paper has not been considered by the Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee and does not necessarily represent the views of the Board. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by the authors or publisher. © 1999 International Accounting Standards Committee ISBN 0 905625 77 3 All rights reserved. No part of this Discussion Paper may be translated, reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form either in whole or in part or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the International Accounting Standards Committee. The ® “Hexagon Device”, “IAS”, “IASC” and “International Accounting Standards”are registered Trade Marks of the International Accounting Standards Committee and should not be used without the approval of the International Accounting Standards Committee. International Accounting Standards Committee, 166 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (171) 353-0565, Fax: +44 (171) 353-0562, E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.iasc.org.uk ii T ABLE OF C ONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................III FOREWORD ...........................................................................................................................VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................VIII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .....................................................................................................IX 1 INTRODUCTION AND STUDY OBJECTIVES........................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 BACKGROUND............................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Growth in Web-based Reporting ......................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Growth in Web-based Trading ............................................................................ 5 1.2.3 Prospects of Web Reporting in the Context of Globalisation.............................. 6 1.2.4 Impact of Globalisation and Information Technology Developments on Regulation of Markets.......................................................................................... 8 1.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR STANDARD SETTING AND STANDARD SETTERS .............................. 8 1.4 INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO WEB-BASED BUSINESS REPORTING.............................. 10 1.4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 10 1.4.2 RWE AG............................................................................................................. 10 1.4.3 Intel .................................................................................................................... 15 1.4.4 Microsoft............................................................................................................ 20 1.5 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 22 2 TECHNOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITIES ..................................................................... 24 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 24 2.2 CD-ROM ................................................................................................................... 24 2.3 ELECTRONIC PAPER .................................................................................................... 25 2.4 HTML ........................................................................................................................ 26 2.5 PLUG-INS .................................................................................................................... 31 2.6 MULTIMEDIA .............................................................................................................. 31 2.7 3D............................................................................................................................... 33 2.8 DATABASES ................................................................................................................ 33 2.9 SEARCH TOOLS AND METADATA ............................................................................... 34 2.10 JAVASCRIPT, JAVA AND ACTIVE/X............................................................................. 35 2.11 PUSH........................................................................................................................... 37 2.12 INTELLIGENT AGENTS................................................................................................. 38 2.13 XML........................................................................................................................... 41 2.14 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 42 3 EXISTING BUSINESS REPORTING ON THE INTERNET.................................... 44 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 44 3.2 EXISTING LITERATURE ON WEB REPORTING .............................................................. 44 3.3 CURRENT WEB AND MULTIMEDIA REPORTING........................................................... 46 iii 3.3.1 The Background................................................................................................. 46 3.3.2 Further Evidence on Web-based Performance Reporting................................. 47 3.3.3 Results................................................................................................................ 50 3.4 EDGAR AND OTHER NATIONAL DISCLOSURES ........................................................... 56 3.5 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 58 4 SETTING STANDARDS FOR BUSINESS REPORTING ON THE INTERNET: THE SHORT TERM PERSPECTIVE......................................................................... 60 4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 60 4.2 STANDARDS FOR CURRENT LEVEL OF REPORTING...................................................... 61 4.2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 61 4.2.2 The Nature of the Standards .............................................................................. 62 4.2.3 Standards for Web-based Business Reporting - A Code of Conduct for Current Application ........................................................................................... 62 4.2.4 Responsibilities for Implementing the Code of Conduct ................................... 66 4.3 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 67 5 STANDARDS SETTING FOR WEB-BASED BUSINESS REPORTING WITH FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES ........................................................................................ 69 5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 69 5.2 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION ....................................................................................... 69 5.3 COMBINED REPORTING............................................................................................... 72 5.4 TECHNICAL ISSUES ..................................................................................................... 74 5.4.1 Usability............................................................................................................. 74 5.4.2 Resource Discovery ........................................................................................... 76 5.4.3 Information Processing...................................................................................... 77 5.4.4 Accounting Issues .............................................................................................. 78 5.4.5 Attestation .......................................................................................................... 78 5.5 A BUSINESS REPORTING LANGUAGE .......................................................................... 78 5.6 FORM OF A WEB BUSINESS REPORTING STANDARD .................................................. 80 5.6.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 80 5.6.2 Accounting Domain Knowledge ........................................................................ 80 5.6.3 IT