Since January 1, 2020, companies with securities listed in the EU and UK have been required by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to submit annual financial reports in ESEF (European Single Electronic Format).

ESEF is a digital reporting standard based on XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), specifically Inline XBRL (iXBRL) embedded in an XHTML document. By standardizing on ESEF, companies and regulators gain the key advantages of XBRL: built-in data validation, improved consistency, compatibility with software processing, and easier comparison of reported data both within a single organization and across multiple companies.

For filing companies, however, the challenge lies in getting backend data into a valid XBRL format according to the ESEF Taxonomy, especially since the employees recording the data are generally financial professionals.

Visual Tools for Generating ESEF XBRL Reports

While financial professionals are experts in their company's data, the technical challenges of XBRL coding can slow them down. This is complicated by the mixed nature of financial reports, which include facts in tables as well as in narrative sections and footnotes. What if you they could generate valid ESEF XBRL reports without needing to manage the underlying XBRL syntax?

The Altova XBRL Tagging solution does exactly that, offering users an intelligent, visual interface for applying XBRL tags to a familiar, human-readable view of the annual financial statement in PDF or HTML.

How it Works

It's easy to get started tagging your financial report for ESEF XBRL. Available for free in the Altova Cloud, the XBRL Tagging solution requires no set up or implementation. In fact, you don't even need to create an account before getting to work. Just upload an annual financial statement in virtually any format (PDF, HTML, JPG, PNG, etc.) as well as your organization's extension taxonomy and start tagging.

With the visual interface, tagging in XBRL feels intuitive, much like adding a comment or highlight in the tools financial teams use every day. Based on the area selected for tagging, a searchable pop-up menu driven by the underlying taxonomy lists valid options to tag an individual fact or footnote, select a region to give it common properties, and auto-detect tables.

From there, the intelligence built into the tool does the heavy lifting to create the XBRL report.

The Altova XBRL Tagging approach has several benefits:

• Based on Altova's 15+ years of experience creating certified XBRL software
• Free, cloud-based solution
• No download, IT setup, or account required to get started
• Visual, point-and-click tagging
• No technical XBRL expertise required
• Automatic table detection and tagging
• Smart footnote tagging
• Built-in ESEF XBRL validation
• Auto-generation of iXBRL filing report

Generate the ESEF XBRL Report

Once you are finished tagging, click Export and Altova XBRL Tagging will generate the corresponding iXBRL document. Built-in validation against your extension taxonomy runs during export, and any issues are reported in the Messages pane. If you need to correct any errors, simply update the relevant tags and generate the report again.