The reinsurance giant Swiss Re and software firm SAP this week announced that they are working together to rethink the way that systems can apply plex rules for different reporting requirements,simultaneously.

The problem is widespread.Different regulatory reporting requirements and aounting standards in different jurisdictions oblige panies to develop different reporting processes.Sometimes this involves aggregating data in different ways.Sometimes it requires different assumptions (for example,valuation techniques)to be applied to granular data.Financial institutions are especially impacted but this is an issue for any multi-national entity.

The approach being explored by Swiss Re and SAP will,aording to a press release this week:

•Manage increasing regulatory plexity with the ability to easily inrporate new valuations and reporting standards (such as IFRS and U.S.GAAP)on an ongoing basis

•Rce reporting efforts by generating multiple financial valuations simultaneously

The effort bines specialised industry knowledge with advanced (and very fast)in-memory database capabilities.We will be following this effort closely as it is a new way to approach a widespread problem.Gaining nsensus on reporting requirements is sometimes impossible.Determining whether two,seemingly parable reporting requirements are indeed identical is time nsuming and expensive.A plementary exercise would allow the creation of links between reporting requirements across different reporting domains.

This project also highlights the feasibility of producing different reporting aggregates from the same transactions.Aounting standards setters are often wary of asking for alternative breakdowns,despite urging from the Analyst profession.

An interesting and potentially very useful piece of work.We just wish that they wouldn’t call it “-innovation”which is a new way to mangle language!

中文新闻：更加智能的报告?