Compliance Briefing — July 1, 2021

Executive briefing: For financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2020 (with many Member States granting a one-year COVID deferral), EU issuers admitted to regulated markets must prepare annual financial reports in the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF). By the 2021 filing season, ESMA expects Inline XBRL tagging of IFRS primary statements and block-tagging of notes using the ESEF taxonomy.

Key compliance checkpoints

Inline XBRL tagging. Apply detailed tagging to balance sheets, income statements, cash flows, and changes in equity, and block-tag notes per Annex II of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/815.
Governance and assurance. Document management body approval, external assurance scope, and audit opinion references for the digital package.
Submission controls. Ensure the packaged .xhtml and taxonomy files pass regulator validation and remain accessible on issuer websites for at least 10 years.

Operational priorities

Tooling. Select ESEF-authorised tagging platforms that manage taxonomy extensions, anchoring, and validation against ESMA conformance suites.
Process integration. Embed ESEF production in financial close calendars, aligning finance, investor relations, and auditors on review checkpoints.
Quality assurance. Establish peer review and automated checks for rounding, sign conventions, and extension anchoring to avoid regulator rejection.

Enablement moves

Maintain a taxonomy governance log capturing extension rationale, mapping decisions, and auditor sign-off evidence.
Provide investor relations teams with training on hosting and communicating the new digital report format.
Coordinate with audit committees on assurance readiness as Member States move toward mandatory ESEF assurance engagements.

Sources

Zeph Tech supports finance teams with ESEF tagging workflows, taxonomy governance, and validation routines that keep filings regulator-ready.