The e-annual reporting environment, created by the Estonian Centre of Registers and Information Systems for entrepreneurs to enable filing annual reports electronically, was voted the best solution of its category from among more than 460 projects at the global e-solution contest World Summit Award 2011.
Mehis Sihvart, the director of the Estonian Centre for Registers and Information Systems that had created the e-annual reporting environment, says that the prized system had enabled compiling reports and presenting them to the register for more than 120 thousand entrepreneurs.
Mehis Sihvart: “E-reporting reduces mistakes in the reports presented to the register and simultaneously reduces bureaucracy and the administrative burden on the state. The double request for data has also been reduced and the presented information is immediately accessible to all and can also be processed better.”
According to Kristen Michal, the Estonian Minister of Justice, the e-annual reporting environment was created to facilitate business. E-reporting has increased the active presentation of annual reports – compulsory for entrepreneurs – and made it easier, because reports have been increasingly sent in earlier during the last years.
“If in 2009, about a third of all entrepreneurs presented their annual report within three last days before the deadline, this year the initial assessments predict that such number will drop below one quarter and this shows that the e-annual reporting environment allows the entrepreneurs to focus more on their business and to file reports more easily,” added the minister.
Mehis Sihvart says that the user feedback for the e-annual reporting environment has thus far been positive and the Centre for Registers and Information Systems team wishes to thank all entrepreneurs and accountants for accepting the new solution. “This is certainly one of the most successful e-reporting projects in the world and the success comes primarily from the good computer skills and widespread internet use of the system users, and also from the ingenuity of the IT experts,” noted Sihvart.
Sihvart believed Estonia also won attention and praise for implementing the e-annual reporting environment quickly and completely, without making exceptions even for the usage convenience requirements meant for people with special needs.
Since the company registration portal accepts not just the Estonian, but also the Portuguese, Belgian and Finnish ID cards, and also the Lithuanian mobile ID solution, the portal can also be used by citizens of other countries.
The e-annual reporting project was completed thanks to the support from the European Union Structural Assistance program.
A total of 160 countries participated in the WSA competition and over 460 e-solution projects were submitted. Winners were selected in eight categories.
The WSA’s goal is to select and introduce the world’s best e-solutions and innovative IT services. The WSA uses national preliminaries, competitions and the international jury process to demonstrate the local peculiarity and innovativeness in implementing IT in the solutions. The WSA is a global focal point for those who value the importance of local e-solutions in making today’s information society more user-friendly and accessible.
Source: Ministry of Justice
