ESMA’s ESEF: A Roadmap to iXBRL Compliance

A major change in financial reporting rules is on its way for companies listed on regulated markets in the European Economic Area (EEA). The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is introducing a European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) that will be mandatory for all annual financial reports (AFRs) filed for financial years starting on or after 1st January 2021. Key elements of ESEF include the requirement to file reports in XHTML format and to tag financial data with Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL), which allows for machine-readability and easy comparison across companies and countries.