ESMA has mandated that all public companies in the EU must file their Annual Financial Reports (AFRs) and submit them to Officially Appointed Mechanisms (OAMs) in a digital format named Inline XBRL (iXBRL). OAMs are the regulatory body in the EU that are authorized to receive reports submitted by issuers. The new reporting will be in a digital, machine-readable format (the European Single Electronic Format, also known as the ESEF) and the data received by all OAMs will be in a smart HTML format that can be easily accessed and analyzed by investors, market analysts, and users of information in a transparent and efficient manner. To realize the maximum value from the filings, OAMs would look for regulatory software platforms for receiving iXBRL data submitted by issuers in compliance with the ESMA Mandate. How would national regulators fulfill this requirement?
IRIS iFILE is an end-to-end electronic regulatory filing platform that is used by over 25 regulators in more than 20 countries to receive millions of XBRL/iXBRL filings each year. IRIS iFILE has several modules that allow the regulator to accept, validate, manage and store XBRL instance documents. The platform is used to build structure and meaning to complicated iXBRL data for better decision-making.
Here’s are the distinct features of the IRIS iFILE platform
1. Multilingual Platform Interface
IRIS iFILE supports multiple languages to cater to the requirements of users of several countries. Currently, the platform supports English, Hindi Thai, Malay, Arabic, and some EU languages. The platform can easily be customized for any language.
2. Manage Filing & Entities
Regulators may use administrative modules to manage the rights and roles of users of the system including company and regulatory users. A similar module is also available for companies.
3. Submission of data
The platform enables the submission of XBRL/iXBRL instance documents and/or taxonomy documents to the regulators for further processing. Encryption of data and digital signature support is available as value-added features based on the security needs of the regulator. The idea behind introducing iXBRL is to facilitate machine-readable information for further analysis, peer benchmarking, comparison, and governance purposes. Along with a smooth submission module, the IRIS iFile framework provides real-time alerts and notifications, smart analytics, and rich data mining.
4. Validation of data
Currently, ESMA has not required OAMs to validate data/information at the time of receiving iXBRL documents. This means issuers could submit erroneous documents or reports, not in compliance with the mandate. How does an OAM ensure the data being submitted is accurate and valid?
IRIS iFILE helps the regulators to validate iXBRL files received, using IRIS’ XII Certified Validator, IRIS Buschat. This covers all the specifications of iXBRL reporting. Apart from XBRL/iXBRL validation rules, regulators- can also define their own validations as well. These validations would ensure that the data being received by OAMs and regulators is of higher quality and usability.
5. Store & Integrate
iXBRL instance documents are stored, based on the regulator’s requirement, in a file server. The data from the iXBRL instance documents can also be extracted and stored in a relational database, depending on the regulator’s requirements. IRIS iFILE can integrate the database with the existing data management systems already present at the regulator’s end.
6. Dissemination of data
The IRIS iFILE platform has approval/rejection mechanisms and a distribution engine that enables instant dissemination of information in various document formats. It has both a web-based rendering and a Microsoft® Excel® add-in so users can easily view and download the XBRL instance documents. In many countries, regulators disseminate value-added data as part of their data services business, OAMs in the EU could follow this model as well.
7. Analysis of data
The true benefit of data in a digital machine-readable format is to facilitate easy access to accurate data and analysis of such data. IRIS iFILE’s compliance dashboard allows regulators to easily view the status and details of submissions and provide various reports. The reports module comes with standard reporting templates as well as the ability to create customized reports. This helps flag non-compliant entities and also inconsistent data.
8. Flexible Hosting
Cloud-based hosting in the EU region is available to reduce infrastructure costs. In-premise hosting is also offered.
IRIS iFile is currently used by regulators such as capital market regulators, securities commissions, business registries, banking regulators central banks, stock exchanges, and insurance regulators across 17 countries. Some of our clients include the Reserve Bank of India, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Singapore), the National Stock Exchange (India), the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (UAE), Bank of Mauritius (Mauritius), Centre for Federal Financial Information (Argentina), the Government of Macedonia, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Singapore), Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (South AfricaCIPC), Central Bank of Jordan and, Ministry of Commerce & Investment (Qatar).
IRIS iFILE can also be customized for the specific requirements of OAMs who seek to ensure compliance with and add further value to, iXBRL filings that issuers will submit in compliance with the ESMA ESEF mandate.
