Proceedings

included in the category of developed countries have started to accept financial
reports to calculate taxes in iXBRL format (extensible business language of line
reporting). We mention here countries like the USA, Canada, and most recently
England, where all companies, starting with 2010, will have to prepare reports in
electronic iXBRL format: (Callaghan and Nehmer, 2009), (Gray et al., 2009). This is
only one area. Let us not forget that numerous bodies for the regulation of the
investment activity requested that reports of listed corporations to be in XBRL format
(SEC). What makes XBRL reports to be attractive is the fact that they are more
accurate and there are smaller chances for them to be wrong. In another respect,
XBRL reports are easier to access and practically they can be accessed at any hour,
day or night. Therefore, it is a reporting method with a reduced consume of paper and
toner, by accessing the data base instead of the paper supported documents. The
challenge now is to use a “web-based accounting system” which can update
automatically accounting data and norms. In other words, using XBRL and other
reporting languages one can practically access directly (in real time) any document
contained by the databases.
There are several ways to describe accounting by using web services or an XMLbased
accounting system. We named here the Web-Based Accounting – a term e
consider to be the most adequate to describe the use of web services in accounting.
We have not found so far an explicit definition of web-based accounting. Relying
though on what other authors have mentioned in this respect and on the definition
given by Wikipedia (Web Dictionary), for web-based services, we have reached to the
conclusion that the most adequate definition of web-based accounting is that of
accounting software that registers, stores and processes accounting transactions, using
XML as a technology for data transmittal and storage, HTTP as primary
communication protocol, and the presentation of information in HTML format.
Web-based accounting systems, destined for the SMEs, could register a new evolution
with the perfecting of the “cloud computing” technologies which are based on
resource sharing via Internet, and the software and information circulated are supplied
by other devices by request. Though, from a conceptual point of view, the basic
concept related to “cloud computing” is not a recent one, as John McCarthy
mentioned in 1961 (in a speech held to celebrate the MIT centenary) that
“computation may someday be organized as a public utility”. From a technical point
of view, the software for the implementation of “cloud computing” technology has
developed slower and at high costs. Of course, the main beneficiaries of this
technology are enterprises and the government. In order to improve the process at the
level of international organizations and states there are resources allocated to develop
these technologies. One of these projects is e-billing and e-public Procurement
launched by the European Commission in 2007. The two main objectives of the
project are “to contribute to the use of electronic billing in the public sector, in
conformity with the objectives from the action plan i2010 e-government and the
action plan e-Procurement. A second objective is to contribute to the creation of a
European frame of electronic billing (IAE), which is under the responsibility of the
experts group concerning e-billing "(www.epractice.eu / cazuri / ePRIOR). The
solutions developed within the European Commission will allow the suppliers who
use web-based services to upload and download XML messages: catalogues, orders,
invoices, disputes, credit notes etc.
~ 707 ~