Disclosure management

AB Report Disclosure management is a suite of tools designed to streamline the creation and production of comprehensive reports tailored for management, stakeholders, investors and regulatory compliance.

Traditionally, the process of producing management or regulatory reports involves a manual compilation of information, often requiring meticulous cutting, pasting and formatting in tools such as Word or Excel. This final step, commonly referred to as the 'last mile', is repeated for each new financial period and report iteration.

The core objective of AB Report Disclosure management is to streamline and automate this process so that reports can be generated quickly with a single click.

Data sources

Disclosure reports in AB Report primarily draw data from the platform itself. Numerical data from external sources can be seamlessly loaded into AB Report as non-financial metrics. Descriptive text elements are preferably entered manually into the report instance.

Disclosure Report Templates

Report Templates describe a disclosure report as a hierarchical list of sections, measures and dimensions (concepts). These templates also contain calculation and validation rules as well as print templates.

Initially, these templates are created without specific binding to the accounting structure of a particular company. The critical binding process occurs through mapping, where the contexts of the templates are aligned with the elements of the accounting taxonomy and business dimensions defined by the company.

The report templates in AB Report are structured using the xBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) approach. Although small and medium-sized companies may not typically require xBRL reporting, AB Report's xBRL-based approach provides an easy-to-understand framework for describing complex reporting models. This includes measure flows, tables, multi-dimensional elements, footnotes and reporting periods. Templates extend the xBRL standards to enable enhanced presentation using charts, graphs and customisable tables.

Templates can be stored in files or AB Report libraries, making them easy to share, reuse and extend.

Translation

Report templates support translation into multiple languages, allowing disclosure reports to be completed and published in different linguistic contexts.

Disclosure Report Repositary

AB Report stores disclosure reports centrally. Using different templates, reports can be created for different reporting periods, specific entities (for regulatory reporting) or organisational components such as cost centres, segments, projects or the entire organisation.

Report analysis*

Reports can be analysed using the drill-down feature to trace the source of any report measure.

Report validation

Use report templates for compliance checks, validating reports against regulatory or management standards to ensure legal and management requirements are met.

Version Control*

AB Report enables the tracking of changes and maintenance of different report versions with a comparison feature.

Report publishing

Use report templates to create easy-to-use designs ready for publication in Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint.

Chatbot Integration*

The chatbot within AB Report tracks the disclosure process and provides alerts for key milestones or potential issues.

Integration with Regulatory Filings *

AB Report integrates seamlessly with regulatory filing systems, allowing disclosure reports to be submitted directly to regulatory authorities. This eliminates the need for manual submission to regulatory sites or traditional paper-based publishing. The product will be localised for different countries, providing tailored integration with specific regulatory filing requirements.

Security and Access Controls

AB Report provides robust security and access controls to isolate reports based on different entities, cost centres, business units and projects, restricting access to authorised individuals and designated areas.

Features marked with * are expected in version 1.5

Next: Excel integration