ESEF in practice 3: sustainability

Event recordings

1st panel, ESEF success stories from 1st year implementation:

Complete webinar:

About this event

Join Accountancy Europe and our event partners Toppan Merrill and Workiva for our 3rd European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) in practice webinar.

We will hear success stories from the first-year ESEF implementation in Italy and Luxembourg. Assurance concerns will be at the heart of our discussion. We will also focus on connecting ESEF and sustainability (digital) reporting. How can we learn from ESEF to apply the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)’s requirements?

Finally, experts will discuss how ESEF and CSRD fit into the bigger picture of digitising EU capital markets information.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from experts in digital interconnected reporting!

Webinar speakers:

• Ambrose Murray, Director, EMEIA Public Policy, EY
• Andromeda Wood, Vice President, Workiva
• Bartek Czajka, Director, Toppan Merrill
• Francesca Amatimaggio, Partner, EY-Italy
• Jon Rowden, Director, PwC-UK
• Mael Garo, Partner, Deloitte-Luxembourg
• Rene Van Der Meij, Co-Chair of ESG Working Group, XBRL-Europe
• Richard Bössen, ESRS Digitalisation Expert, EFRAG (on secondment from AMANA consulting)
• Ronald van Langen, Senior Manager, KPMG-Netherlands
• Willem Geijtenbeek, Vice-Chair, Corporate Reporting Policy Group, Accountancy Europe

Our partners:

About Toppan Merrill – Providing SaaS Solutions coupled with Global Expertise for Regulatory Disclosure and iXBRL
For over 50 years, Toppan Merrill has helped issuers manage their regulatory disclosure requirements, and are proud to have been at the forefront of the XBRL/iXBRL initiative since 2009. Our XBRL experts are the trusted advisors and consultants for companies, their auditors and regulators on the ESEF mandate to ensure successful, on-time and accurate filings.

Workiva is a world leading cloud platform for transparent reporting.

The platform is positioned to address the biggest ESG reporting challenges. It provides a single source of truth for structured and unstructured data, ensuring consistency at all times. It simplifies, unifies, and future-proofs sustainability reporting so it meets regulatory requirements, addresses stakeholder concerns, optimises workflows and transparently demonstrates the ESG credentials.

Event recap

ESEF success stories from 1st year implementation

• Ronald van Langen (KPMG-Netherlands) opened the discussion remarking that the ESEF implementation was successful in the EU member states. Issuers, auditors and service providers were able to perform what they were supposed to do. He added that block-tagging of disclosures and tagging sustainability information are on the horizon and these may bring different types of challenges.
• Bartek Czajka (Toppan Merrill) noted that preparation and execution phases are equally important for a successful ESEF implementation. He also highlighted the importance of planning for the next year before the busy season starts. This should include continuous and open communication among companies, auditors and service providers. He reminded that validations can greatly help if done in a timely manner.
• Mael Garo (Deloitte-Luxembourg) stated that in Luxembourg, the professional institute (IRE) established a working group which had close cooperation with the regulator and supervisor (CSFF). IRE explained the expectations from auditors in an FAQ document. CSSF published guidelines for auditors, framework for issuers and a communication to third country auditors.
• Francesca Amatimaggio (EY-Italy) explained how coordination with the regulators of Italian financial services contributed to successful ESEF implementation. Agreeing on fixed schemes for financial statements and defining a unique ESEF tag mapping improved the consistency of ESEF filings in Italy. She also presented common challenges encountered in tagging financial statements.

ESEF and CSRD: towards interconnected digital reporting

• In his opening remarks, Jon Rowden (PwC-UK) described delivering more iXBRL tags to users of listed company financial statements as a natural next step. He underlined the importance of having the ability to digitise the emerging disclosure requirements relating to sustainability. All parties in the reporting ecosystem have a lot to do, and the preparations are already underway.
• Richard Bossen (EFRAG) considers the CSRD initiative as a revolution in the digital reporting world. He encouraged the participants to respond to the EFRAG consultations that are now open. We will need to have an XBRL taxonomy based on the disclosure requirements in ESRS, and it is work-in-progress. Digitalisation experts are working closely with the ESRS standard-setters.
• Andromeda Wood (Workiva) referred to a recent survey conducted on over 500 companies. This survey shows a strong confidence in ESEF filings and a belief that the investor experience will be improved. She also highlighted that digitisation would enable the ESG data to make their way into the market, and to be used by investors. In this regard, testing taxonomies against real-life disclosures is crucial.
• Rene Van Der Meij (XBRL-Europe) noted that the interconnectivity between financial and ESG data exists regardless of the reporting format, providing several examples. Users of corporate reporting, standard-setters, issuers, and auditors need, and benefit from, digitalised interconnectivity. There are many ways to achieve this depending on the ultimate objective.

ESAP: digitising EU capital market information – challenges & opportunities

• Ambrose Murray (EY-EMEIA) summarised the main characteristics of the ESAP proposals and its objective which is to provide for seamless, EU-wide access to all relevant information (including financial and sustainability-related information) disclosed to the public by companies. He also stated that there is a strong support for this initiative which is a gigantic IT project that may benefit from piloting.
• Willem Geijtenbeek (Accountancy Europe) concluded that these three initiatives will increase the transparency of EU capital markets information for all stakeholders. The profession is actively participating in discussions, specifically to increase the quality of and trust in reported information. He suggested a phased, and well-thought out, implementation considering the ambitious targeted timing and uncertainties about the scope, as well as the governance of the platform.

Closing remarks

• Harun Saki (Accountancy Europe) thanked event partners Toppan Merrill and Workiva, participants, moderators and speakers. Accountancy Europe will keep closely monitoring the developments and the debate around these initiatives and do its best to contribute to the EU policy objectives of green and digital transition.