Customer Profile
Imerys S.A. is a French multinational organization and the world’s leading supplier of specialty industrial minerals. The company is present in over 40 countries across the globe and reported a revenue of € 4.4 BN in 2021. Headquartered in Paris, Imerys employs more than 16,000 employees globally. The company was founded in 1880 and has major operations in the Americas, Europe, Middle East Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Imerys S.A is among the leading sustainability-driven organizations, winning several accolades including the Natural England Award for Landscape-scale Restoration in 2017.
Business Challenges
The consolidation department at Imerys S.A. was looking for a software vendor to help them comply with the ESEF mandate. They had encountered difficulties early on in their ESEF journey when a former vendor wasn’t able to support them optimally through the iXBRL report creation process.
When Imerys reached out to IRIS CARBON® with their ESEF compliance requirements, it was agreed that we would manage their iXBRL report creation. Accordingly, our team began to understand Imerys’ needs.
Project Objectives
IRIS CARBON® worked closely with the Imerys S.A. consolidation team to put together the right objectives for the project.
The following objectives were agreed upon
- High-quality iXBRL Document Preparation And Tagging Support
- Customized Training For The Consolidation Team at Imerys S.A.
- Error-free Test Filing And Voluntary Filing of 2020 Annual Report
- Support For Data Integration Between iXBRL Document and Design Tool
- Unlimited Support By XBRL Experts Throughout the Filing Process
The IRIS CARBON® Approach
The Imerys S.A. team had their objectives clear when it came to choosing the right ESEF reporting software vendor – more so because their former vendor failed to bring to the table the right XBRL and technical expertise to facilitate a smooth ESEF filing experience.
IRIS CARBON® handled the Imerys S.A. ESEF filing project over six phases to deliver an exceptional filing experience.
In-depth Demonstration of the IRIS CARBON® Platform
The project kicked off with an in-depth product demonstration for the Imerys S.A. team to understand how IRIS CARBON® could help them with ESEF compliance. The team was impressed with some of the amazing features of our platform such as ‘commenting’ for better collaboration and ‘validations’ for eliminating errors.
Review of 2020 iXBRL Report Made Using Previous Vendor’s Tool
Once Imerys chose IRIS CARBON®, our engagement started off with a quality review of the 2020 iXBRL that the client team created using their previous vendor’s software. We had the following key observations after the review process
- The company taxonomy structure was not appropriate for some financial statements
- Inappropriate IFRS elements were used in certain parts of the report
- Extension elements were created where IFRS tags could have sufficed
- Labels in the company taxonomy were not aligned with what Imerys used in the financial statements
- Anchoring relationships were missing for certain disclosures
A detailed quality report proposing the changes necessary in the XBRL tagging was presented to Imerys. Based on their approval, it was decided that these changes would be incorporated into their report.
Customized Training for Imerys Team to Enhance Understanding
Our team organized customized training sessions for Imerys S.A.’s consolidation team. These sessions were delivered in French and were designed to improve the team’s understanding of the platform. They helped us identify areas of concern and address queries in advance.
Quality Tagging Support by XBRL Experts
Phase III was focused on providing quality tagging support for their 5 primary financial statements. Our XBRL experts ensured that the support was excellent and the tagging results were exceptional, which gave a big boost to the Imerys team’s confidence.
Data Integration with the Design Agency Tool
In the next phase, our team needed to partner with Imerys’s design agency for the final high-quality output. Since the agency came with its own design tool, document and iXBRL data integration was a challenge in Imerys’s former experience. Our customer success team involved IRIS CARBON®’s technology team, which understood the requirements of the design tool and facilitated seamless integration of both platforms. The integration went smoothly and the end result was an error-free high-quality output.
High-quality Test Filing with the Regulator
The IRIS CARBON® team worked on merging the design file and the iXBRL to deliver the final output for a test filing with the regulator. Imerys S.A.’s consolidation team successfully completed an error-free test filing.
Error-free Final Live Filing of the 2021 Annual Report
The final phase of the project was the live filing of Imerys’s 2021 annual report. The live filing was an exact replica of last year’s test filing. Team Imerys S.A. received exceptional feedback from AMF for the quality of its ESEF annual report.
A big thank you to the IRIS CARBON team! It has been a real pleasure collaborating with you on our 2021 ESEF filing.
We really appreciate your support through the whole process — starting from training sessions on the product, right down to the iXBRL review.
As we went through the filing process, all our queries were responded to quickly, and any changes we suggested were implemented almost instantly.
Your technical skills were very much appreciated and we are confident that future filings with more extensive tagging will be managed competently by IRIS CARBON.
We would definitely recommend IRIS CARBON to groups looking for a skilled and proactive ESEF filing service.
Thanks again to all of you.
Sabine Chambon
Consolidation Department
Difference between the ESEF software Imerys previously used and IRIS CARBON®
User-friendliness
- According to the Imerys team, the software they previously used was not user-friendly and made ESEF XBRL tagging a painstaking process with very little support from the vendors
- IRIS CARBON®, on the other hand, provided Imerys with a user-friendly, collaborative platform and unlimited XBRL expert support that greatly simplified the ESEF report creation
Taxonomy Versions
- The vendor did not provide ESEF taxonomy upgrades, and Imerys had to go through the additional hassle of uploading the relevant ESEF taxonomy version on the
- IRIS CARBON® always provides companies with the latest ESEF Taxonomy version they must use for their
ESEF Tagging Process
- When it came to the ESEF tagging process, the solution did not give the Imerys team a view of XBRL tags and their When extension elements or custom tags were created and anchored, the platform would not display the anchoring details.
- IRIS CARBON® displays the relevant ESEF Taxonomy tags and their properties alongside the financial statement being worked When extension elements are anchored, the platform displays the properties prominently.
Audit Trail And More
- The software did not have an audit trail functionality, which meant teams could not track the progress in ESEF report Tight ESEF compliance deadlines and the lack of in-house XBRL expertise meant Imerys had great difficulty in creating their iXBRL reports.
- IRIS CARBON® has the audit trail functionality and even other collaborative features such as workflows, commenting on report line items, and version management, all of which combine to facilitate a simplified ESEF report creation
No More A Daunting Process
- ESEF reporting with Imerys’ previous software vendor was a daunting process due to the tight deadlines and lack of in-house XBRL
- IRIS CARBON®, meanwhile, has an impressive track record of facilitating high-quality ESEF reports despite tight deadlines and complex reporting
Key Results Achieved
Imerys S.A.’s ESEF filing will remain one of our most educational and memorable projects. Earning the client consolidation team’s trust and building their confidence after a failed project were the key takeaways for us. After a successful ESEF filing, both the teams involved were extremely delighted with the quality of iXBRL output and the overall experience delivered.
Team Imerys S.A was impressed with the comprehensive support IRIS CARBON® provided. Our promptness in responding to their queries and our overall nimble approach to the project helped us win the client’s confidence.
Below are highlights of the Imerys S.A. ESEF filing experience
