Application Compliance

This content contains information about application compliance in relation to Business Central, like the International Financial Reporting Standards, local functionality, GDPR and more. Confidence in a business management solution is key to running an efficient business. With Business Central companies are empowered to streamline business processes while consistently and cost-efficiently complying with increasing regulation and reporting requirements.

Data Privacy

Business Central supports data privacy initiatives like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect on May 25th 2018. Read more about how Business Central supports GDPR.

If you are a developer for Business Central extensions you must know about classifying data. Please see this page. If you want to learn more about GDPR from a broader Dynamics 365 perspective, please see this list of whitepapers.

Accounting processes and controls to aid compliance

Companies face increasing financial accounting challenges each year. Depending on industry, markets, geographic location, and financing needs, an organization may be subject to local generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and one or more of:

  • The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), a U.S. law passed in 2002 to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures.
  • The International Financial Reporting Standards section of the European Union's International Accounting Standards (IAS/IFRS), which went into effect in 2005 and sets forth international accounting standards for recognition, measurement, consolidation, and reporting.
  • The New Basel Accord (Basel II), enacted in 2006 to address issues of financial institution risk and to promote greater stability in the overall financial system.

Good practices with technology

Compliance depends not only on accurate information and appropriate accounting processes, but also on the people who set up and administer those processes. An effective business management solution can facilitate compliance by helping to manage valid and accessible information through transparent processes that have been set up in compliance with industry and regulatory standards.

Realize the benefits of an integrated business management solution

Business Central delivers real-time, integrated operational and financial information from across your organization, so you can:

  • Track financial data through custom account schedules for cash flow, revenues, balance sheets, fixed assets, capital structure, key performance indicators, and more.
  • Help safeguard accuracy with role-based security and configurable application controls that prevent invalid or duplicate data entry.
  • Quickly and easily generate financial reports in accordance with applicable regulatory standards.
  • Maintain comprehensive audit trails with drill-down and drill-around functionality and change logs.

Gain control of critical information, processes, and reports

Manage compliance to the standards that matter

Deliver integrated information, aligned processes, and easy-to-use tools to help your people meet the financial management expectations and standards that matter to your specific business.

Tailor account schedules to your needs

  • Define the structure of your company's chart of accounts based on business requirements and applicable regulatory standards
  • Create accounts and handle complex processes related to a spectrum of business activities, including inventory valuation, foreign currencies, segment reporting, and departures from local GAAPs.
  • Control the level of detail for each recorded transaction and select detailed registration for specific types of transactions, such as fixed assets and accounts payable.
  • Tailor schedule calculations and display for financial reporting, or export the information to Microsoft Excel for further analysis.

Improve information validity

  • Configure data fields to accept only information in the correct format, such as the correct number of decimal places or alphanumeric patterns.
  • Help ensure information is complete with application controls such as requiring a vendor invoice number to be entered before a purchase order can be posted.
  • Reduce the risk of inaccurate information or tampering and help protect sensitive information with access to information based on job role.
  • Prohibit access, provide read-only access, or enable full-access users to add, edit, or delete information.
  • Easily identify and resolve discrepancies with a reconciliation feature that retrieves current bank account and transaction information and compares it to general ledger posts.
  • Schedule manual or automatic backups to help protect information from electronic failures

Comply quickly with discovery requests and reporting demands

  • Save time when you create standard reports that use common business parameters and criteria to satisfy typical reporting needs, ranging from order summaries to aging accounts receivable.
  • Perform complex reviews with basic or advanced business analytics functionality.
  • Create custom reports and display in product and by utilizing integration to Microsoft PowerBI.
  • Speed transmission of financial information to customers, shareholders, regulatory agencies, and the public with XML-based XBRL documents that support the exchange of financial information across different software and technologies, including the Internet.

Help ensure clear audit trails

  • Trace documents and information both forward and backward through the system, from the original source to final financial statements and back.
  • Identify how, when, and by whom information was entered or edited, and to what account financial entries have been posted.
  • Look up database changes, including previous and revised data, in the solution's Change Log.
  • Increase audit trail transparency and usability, and speed information access for third-party auditors with drill-down, look-up, filtering, register, and navigation

Compliance and local functionality

Microsoft builds localized versions of Business Central for a limited number of markets. These localizations primarily focus on regulatory features in the tax and financial area but can sometimes involve other parts of the application. If you want to see what is built in Microsoft's localized versions of Business Central, see Local Functionality in the menu on this website and choose a country to learn about local functionality. For more information, see Local Functionality.

Note

Sarbanes-Oxley: Validating Data and Processes
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act establishes standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms, including evaluation and disclosure of the adequacy of the company's internal controls over financial reporting. Documenting and testing critical manual and automated controls represents a huge commitment of time and resources for companies. Business Central is especially suited for subsidiaries of larger organizations, and can help support small to midsized businesses in complying with Sarbanes-Oxley.

Note

IAS/IFRS: Recognition and Measurement Standards
Depending on the local GAAPs currently in use, one of the major recognition and measurement changes for IAS/IFRS is extended use of fair-value principles instead of historical cost. Business Central can help companies calculate fair-value and net present value (NPV) concepts, which are focused on current and expected cash flow streams rather than historical purchase price. On the reporting side, it can provide segment reporting by business unit and geographical location.

Note

Basel II: Implications for Reporting and Analysis
Basel II, developed by the Bank for International Settlements, helps ensure safety and security in the financial system in three key areas: minimum capital requirements, supervisory review process, and market discipline. Although the accord applies to financial institutions and does not target small and mid-sized businesses, Basel II may have some implications for these organizations in reporting and analysis.

See Also

Compliance
Service Compliance
Certifications

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