Regulators that oversee aspects of national economies as diverse as securities, taxation, prudential and corporate reporting need to collect considerable amounts of information from business. This data is a prerequisite for effective decision-making and policy definition. Without it, agencies simply can't fulfil their mandates. Set out below are some of the common issues faced by regulators and government agencies today.

1. Timeliness of information:

Effective regulatory decisions can only be made on the basis of up to date information. So, if both the preparation and collection of the data takes an inordinate amount of time, optimum decision-making will suffer.

2. Accuracy of information:

As a result of re-keying, poor definition and a lack of understanding within the private sector as to the rationale behind the data collection itself, regulators often spend a significant amount of time cleansing, de-duplicating, correcting and clarifying the data they receive. This greatly impacts both the accuracy of the information and the speed at which it can be collated and acted upon. All regulators need to work to minimise unnecessary data collections and the associated burden on business. This involves both education and collaboration with industry; it may also require cooperation and understanding across government agencies. Learn more about Standard Business Reporting here >>

3. Management of change:

The important thing to note about regulatory information is that, over time, requirements will undoubtedly change. Change management is vital. Agreeing data modifications, communicating them to industry and managing the resulting data collection environment, while ensuring that the accuracy of the data is preserved, becomes a key challenge faced by most government agencies.

4. Governance:

Regulatory reporting needs to be surrounded by transparent and reliable governance processes in order to be effective and to ensure that all stakeholders involved have confidence in the agency collecting the information.

5. Cost:

While government needs large quantities of information from business, no government agency operates with an unlimited budget, so managing cost and efficiency is a crucial part of any data collection process.