Is Text Block Tagging Different from Primary ESEF Tagging?
For the last two years, all EU-listed companies with ESEF reporting obligations had to mandatorily tag their primary financial statements. However, moving into Phase 2 of reporting, the regulation requires filers with financial year starting on or after 1st January 2022 to tag the notes and disclosures to the financial statement as text block tags which is a significant addition to the ESEF reporting requirements. One major question issuers may have during this time is whether text block tagging differs from primary ESEF tagging. If yes, how? Let’s delve deeper to understand the differences between the two.
Primary ESEF Tagging and Block Tagging
To answer whether primary ESEF block tagging is different from text block tagging – Yes, they are! Primary ESEF tagging in the phase I mandate covers tagging of only ten non-financial tags and tagging of the primary financial statements. On the other hand, the notes to the financial statements to be block tagged in the phase II mandate could span over more than 100 pages.
Some additional aspects of block tagging that were not present in primary ESEF tagging include the following:-
- While primary ESEF tagging only covers tagging the primary financial statements, block tagging also includes tagging notes to the financial statements.
- In text block tagging, the content of an entire section in the report is tagged as a single fact.
- Under block tagging, filers must tag the disclosures in their financial statements to the corresponding taxonomy element specified in Annex II of the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS).
- When disclosures in the financial statements do not form a single continuous block, iXBRL allows using “continuation” and “exclude” in text block tagging to construct a single text tag from different sections of a report.
- Block tagging allows the use of multi-tagging (useful for tagging a single text block element to multiple pieces of text present in different section of the notes) and nested tagging (useful for tagging text within a larger text block tagged text).
You can refer to the ESMA reporting manual for further guidance on the construction of text block tags.
The Next Step
Since Phase 2 requires additional tagging of notes compared to the requirements of Phase 1 which is restricted to tagging of only the primary financial statements and a few mandatory tags.
, transitioning to comply with the additional reporting requirement can become challenging. But with DataTracks, you can make this transition smooth and hassle-free. You can either outsource your ESEF requirement or do it in-house using DataTracks iXBRL solution, Either way, you get a trusted vendor with 18 years of experience in the field.
The experts at DataTracks have successfully prepared over 325,000 error-free compliance reports for more than 21,500 clients in 26 countries. These professionals stay updated on all the changes and developments in ESEF regulations and requirements. So what are you waiting for? Contact an expert @ +31202253702 or email enquiry@datatracks.eu to know more about their services.