The year 2027 will go down as a watershed moment for the Finnish accounting profession. For decades, the statutory audit in Finland has been a process of verifying “documents”—the glossy PDF annual reports and paper-based ledgers that tell a company’s financial story.
However, under the Finnish Trade Register Act and the European Union’s push for transparency, a new era is arriving. Starting in 2027, most Finnish companies required to appoint an auditor must submit their financial statements in structured digital format (iXBRL).
This isn’t just a change for the reporting entities; it is a fundamental shift for the KHT and HT auditors (Authorised Public Accountants). In this “Data-First” world, the auditor’s signature no longer just covers the numbers—it covers the tags.
Welcome to the world of Digital Assurance.
What is Digital Assurance?
In simple terms, Digital Assurance is the process by which an auditor verifies that the digital “tags” (iXBRL) embedded in a financial report accurately represent the underlying financial information and comply with the Finnish National Taxonomy (SBR).
The Anatomy of a Digital Audit
When a Finnish company files an iXBRL report, they aren’t just sending a picture of their balance sheet. They are sending a machine-readable data file. The auditor’s role is to provide a “reasonable assurance” opinion on three fronts:
- The Human-Readable Layer: Does the XHTML document look right to the eye?
- The Machine-Readable Layer: Are the XBRL tags technically sound?.
- The Mapping Layer: Did the company choose the correct tag? For instance, is Liikevaihto (Revenue) tagged with the standard SBR revenue element, or was it accidentally mapped to a “Other Income” tag?.
Why 2027 is the “Point of No Return”
While the ESEF (European Single Electronic Format) mandate already affects listed companies on the Nasdaq Helsinki, the 2027 rollout extends this complexity to the broader Finnish mid-market.
The Mandate Expansion
According to the PRH (Finnish Patent and Registration Office), the obligation for structured digital reporting will be introduced in phases:
- 2026: Mandatory online filing via ytj.fi begins for notifications and applications.
- 2027: Companies required to have an auditor must file financial statements, management reports, and audit reports in Inline XBRL.
- 2028: The mandate extends to almost all limited liability companies.
For auditors, this means the volume of digital assurance engagements is about to explode. You will no longer be auditing “Digital Files” as an exception; you will be auditing them as the standard.
The Top 3 Challenges for Finnish Auditors
The transition to Digital Assurance presents several technical and professional hurdles that Finnish firms must address today.
A. The “Black Box” Problem
Raw XBRL code is unreadable to the human eye. An auditor cannot verify a tag by looking at a .xhtml file in Notepad. To provide assurance, auditors need specialized SBR Viewers that render the code into a visual format while highlighting the underlying tags.
B. Taxonomy Interpretation (SBR vs. FAS)
The Finnish SBR Taxonomy is a standardized dictionary of digital tags based on Finnish Accounting Standards (FAS). However, FAS allows for significant flexibility in how items are named. The auditor must exercise professional judgment to ensure that a company’s unique “Net Sales” sub-category is correctly mapped to the most appropriate standard SBR tag.
C. The Liability of the “Digital Signature”
Under the 2024 updates to the Securities Market Act and the Auditing Act, the auditor’s report itself becomes part of the digital package. Signing off on a digital file carries the same legal weight as a paper signature, but with the added risk that technical errors in the XBRL instance could lead to “Blocking Errors” at the PRH, potentially triggering negligence fees for the client.
Best Practices for a Successful 2027 Audit Cycle
To stay ahead of the curve, Finnish accounting and advisory firms should adopt these best practices:
- Integrate Early in the Cycle: Don’t wait until the “Last Mile” to review tags. Perform a “Dry Run” or a pre-assurance review of the client’s taxonomy mapping during the interim audit.
- Focus on “Anchoring”: For large entities using custom extensions, ensure they are properly “anchored” to a standard SBR element. This is a primary area of focus for regulators.
- Leverage Collaborative Platforms: Use a platform like IRIS CARBON® where the company, the auditor, and the reporting specialist can all view the same “Live” draft of the iXBRL report. This eliminates the need for manual review logs and fragmented email chains.
How IRIS CARBON® Empowers the Finnish Auditor
At IRIS CARBON®, we recognize that auditors are the guardians of trust in the digital economy. Our platform is designed specifically to make Digital Assurance intuitive and risk-free.
- Audit-Ready SBR Viewers: See exactly what the PRH sees. Our viewer highlights every tag, calculation, and attribute in a human-friendly interface.
- Complete Audit Trails: Every change to a tag or a value is recorded with a timestamp. You can see the “Who, What, and When” of every data point, providing the evidence needed for ISAE 3000 reports.
- Pre-Validation for Peace of Mind: Our platform mirrors the PRH’s validation rules. If a client sends you a file with a blocking error, our system flags it before you spend a single billable hour on the review.
Conclusion: From Compliance to Strategy
Digital Assurance in 2027 is not just a new compliance task; it is an opportunity for Finnish auditors to provide higher-value advisory services. By mastering the SBR framework today, you position your firm as a leader in the Finnish Real-Time Economy.
The era of the “Paper Audit” is ending. The era of the “Digital Maestro” has begun.
