Australian Industry Group welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the Productivity Commission inquiry into Business reporting requirements. Business reporting can support legitimate public objectives, including transparency, accountability and better policy design. However, reporting is not costless. It draws on finance, payroll, procurement, legal, technology and operational systems, and can require businesses to create new data solely for regulatory purposes.

Summary of recommendations:

1. Reporting obligations should be proportionate and balance administrative costs with policy objectives
2. Reporting infrastructure should be fit-for-purposes and easy-to-use to lower administrative costs
3. Issues relating to privacy and cyber security should be recognised in policy design
4. Regulator powers to request information should be bounded and limited to that required under policy
5. The ‘grey-tape’ consequences of regulation should be considered and minimised to the extent possible through simplified regulatory designs
6. Reporting obligations should be symmetrical for government and business