Who needs to comply with the ESEF iXBRL mandate?
All public listed companies in the EU who have securities or bonds listed on capital markets and who prepare financials using IFRS have to comply with the ESEF iXBRL mandate. Issuers are required to prepare their AFR based on IFRS standards in iXBRL format.
How is iXBRL different from XBRL?
XBRL and iXBRL are two different reporting formats. XBRL is an XML-based format and is only machine-readable. iXBRL or inline XBRL, is an xHTML-based format and is both machine and human-readable. Read more about the difference between XBRL and iXBRL here.
What is the relation between iXBRL and xHTML?
While iXBRL and xHTML are used interchangeably by many people in the context of ESMA ESEF reporting, they are not the same. A document in an xHTML format becomes an XBRL file if it has iXBRL tags embedded in the document. It should be noted that not all xHTML files are iXBRL.
What happens to a public company following local GAAP?
If you are a public listed company in the EU and you publish your standalone results in local GAAP, your AFR needs to be submitted in xHTML format, but the XBRL tagging requirements do not apply to you.
What is the scope of iXBRL tagging?
Issuers are required to submit their full AFR in iXBRL format with the tagging obligation covering the following:
Detailed tagging of Financial Statements (from 2020)
All numbers in the Primary Financial Statements (balance sheet, income statement, stockholder’s equity, cash flow statement, etc.) need to be iXBRL tagged in the first Phase (Annual reports with financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2020)
Block tagging for notes (from 2022)
All notes will need to block tagged (Annual reports with financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2022)
Detailed tagging of notes (voluntary)
All numbers within the notes can be tagged voluntary at any time
IRIS CARBON is a fully ESEF ready solution with support for iXBRL and 23 EU languages and comes with AI/ML enabled auto-tagging functionality
Do issuers need to submit only the XBRL tagged portion, or the entire Annual Report?
Issuers are required to submit the entire AFR in xHTML format. Within the report, XBRL tagging needs to be applied to specific numbers and text, as per the directive of the ESEF mandate.
Can all XBRL softwares handle iXBRL?
The iXBRL output should look like the original AFR in terms of layout, formatting, and style. iXBRL requires tagging to be done on the face of the AFR. The only difference is that the iXBRL report will be in xHTML (and not Word or PDF or InDesign), and will have XBRL tags embedded in the xHTML document. Since XBRL is not a human-readable format, most XBRL solutions can’t handle the layout, formatting, and style of the original AFR.
Johan Segers
Consolidation Expert
We selected IRIS CARBON® for our ESEF iXBRL conversion, since IRIS is a global firm with deep experience in XBRL/iXBRL, great quality of filings, service delivery, and importantly, offers their service and solution at a very attractive price.
We started our iXBRL process in August 2019, and IRIS converted our 2018-19 Annual Financial Report into iXBRL within just 10 working days. A 2-day workshop conducted by them for our team was extremely helpful, and it was very nice to have our own tagged annual report as training material. This exercise also helped us in finalizing the XBRL tags this year and we are fully ready for the upcoming 2020 ESEF mandate.
We are very happy with the turn time and quality of the iXBRL output created by IRIS CARBON®.
