The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, today published the annual update of its Reporting Manual on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF).
ESMA updated the ESEF Reporting Manual to provide technical improvements, such as:
clarifying the formats of images embedded in the xHTML document;
updating Data Type Registry references;
clarifying ESMA’s position on the application of Calculations 1.1 specification in the context of ESEF; and
fixing previously identified errors.
ESMA provides additional clarifications on how the elements included in the 2023 IFRS Taxonomy update can be used on a voluntary basis by using the extension mechanism. This follows the decision to postpone to 2024 the amendment of the ESEF Regulatory Technical Standard (RTS) in order to formally incorporate the 2023 IFRS Taxonomy update.
In addition, following the first year of implementation of the block-tagging requirements, the Reporting Manual also provides further guidance on ESMA’s expectation on the implementation of the block-tagging requirements and on the expected level of readability of the information extracted from a block tag.
The purpose of the ESEF Reporting Manual is to promote a harmonised and consistent approach for the preparation of annual financial reports in the format specified in the RTS on ESEF. It provides guidance on common issues that may be encountered when creating ESEF documents and explains how to address/resolve them.
