Beyond the Trial Balance: The Role of Supplemental Data Manager
Nadia Lodroman • 21 July 2025
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Unlocking the Hidden Power of Your EPM Cloud for Granular Data Analysis
At its core, the Supplemental Data Manager (SDM)
provides a structured and auditable framework for collecting detailed information that doesn't fit neatly into your standard chart of accounts. Think of it as a bridge between your high-level financial data and the granular details required for comprehensive reporting and analysis.
SDM utilises user-friendly web forms and templates, making it easy for business users to submit, review, and approve data. This ensures data quality and governance, creating a single source of truth for your supplemental data.
Broadening the Horizon: Collecting Financial and Non-Financial Data
The true power of SDM lies in its versatility. It can be configured to capture a wide array of information, empowering organisations to go beyond traditional financial reporting.
Enhancing Financial Detail
For financial close and consolidation, SDM can provide the necessary granularity for disclosures and internal analysis. Some common use cases include:
- Detailed Breakdown of Reserves and Provisions: Instead of a single ledger balance for warranty provisions, you can use SDM to collect a detailed breakdown by product line, geographical region, or aging.
- IFRS to Local GAAP Reconciliations: Capture the detailed calculations and narratives behind each adjustment, creating a clear audit trail.
- Lease Accounting (IFRS 16/ASC 842): Manage the specifics of each lease contract, such as commencement dates, lease terms, and discount rates.
- Fixed Asset Movements: Document the details of asset additions, disposals, and revaluations.
Embracing Non-Financial and ESG Reporting
In an era of increasing demand for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting, SDM is an invaluable tool for collecting and managing non-financial data. Examples include:
- Human Resources: Headcount by department, gender, or location.
- Environmental Metrics: Greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and waste generation.
- Health and Safety: Number of workplace incidents and training hours.
By centralising this information, you can seamlessly integrate it with your financial data for holistic performance reporting.
Introducing Statistical Calculations
SDM is more than just a data repository; it allows for the introduction of statistical calculations that can provide deeper insights. Within the SDM forms, you can create calculated fields to derive new metrics.
For instance, if you collect regional sales data and the number of sales representatives in each region through SDM, you can create a calculated field for "Sales per Representative" (Sales-region/Headcount-region). This simple statistical calculation can offer valuable insights into regional sales force productivity.
Revolutionising the Tax Provision: Bespoke Calculations in TRCS
One of the most impactful applications of SDM is its ability to feed detailed data into the tax provision calculation in Oracle TRCS. This allows for the creation of bespoke calculations that automate and add precision to what are often manual and complex processes.
How it Works:
- Data Collection: Use SDM to gather the specific details needed for a particular tax adjustment. For example, for the meals and entertainment expense disallowance, the general ledger might only contain a total expense figure. Through SDM, you can collect a detailed breakdown of these expenses (e.g., client entertainment, staff events, travel-related meals).
- Integration with Tax Automation: The data collected in SDM is directly accessible within TRCS. You can then write custom tax automation rules that reference these detailed figures.
- Bespoke Calculation: Continuing the meals and entertainment example, a tax automation rule can be configured to take the total from the ledger, apply the detailed breakdown from SDM, and automatically calculate the non-deductible portion based on the relevant jurisdictional tax laws.
This approach significantly reduces manual intervention, minimises the risk of errors, and provides a clear and auditable calculation trail for tax authorities.
A Clearer Picture: Detailed Breakdowns of Financial Categories
SDM provides a powerful mechanism for creating detailed breakdowns of various financial categories, offering transparency and simplifying analysis.
- Current Tax Provision: Use SDM to collect the details behind the current tax expense, such as the breakdown of taxable income, tax rates by jurisdiction, and the application of tax credits.
- Deferred Tax: Capture the movements in deferred tax assets and liabilities at a granular level, detailing the temporary differences by category (e.g., fixed assets, provisions, tax losses). This allows for a more detailed and auditable deferred tax roll-forward.
- IFRS to Local GAAP Adjustments: SDM can be used to create a detailed schedule of all adjustments, including the nature of each adjustment and its impact on the financial statements and the tax provision.
By leveraging SDM to provide these detailed breakdowns, finance and tax teams can move away from offline Excel schedules and create a more integrated and efficient reporting process. The ability to drill down from a high-level consolidated number to the underlying supplemental data provides unparalleled transparency for both internal management and external auditors.
Ready to transform your financial reporting? Reach out to Nadia Lodroman at www.lodroman.com to learn how Supplemental Data Manager can benefit your organization.
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