One of the cornerstones of our ESEF solution is that our mapping specialists constantly monitor the XBRL elements used in your report. Just as they keep track of changes between different taxonomy versions, they also apply their always updated knowledge about best practices and experience from all over the world.
As we handle thousands of reports each year being the biggest supplier of ESEF mappings on a European level we strive to achieve the highest possible quality for your report. An example: EBITDA does not exist as a concept within ESEF, but a wide range of companies feature this line in their statements. If 100 companies were asked to do their own EBITDA concept (extension), chances are that you would get 100 different approaches and/or syntaxes. The result would be that comparability between these 100 companies would be poor. We, on the other hand, would create one EBITDA extension and apply it for all 100 companies, creating an unsurpassed quality and comparability as required by ESMA regulations. Remember that ESEF is not just about compliance, and just because you are able to validate and file a report, it does not mean that it is good quality or usable from an analytical point of view.
Another very important bonus of the “centralized” mapping is that we monitor taxonomy updates and subsequently make changes to your report, if needed. An example: “Deferred income” was changed between ESEF taxonomy versions 2020 and 2021 and you had to choose whether this deferred income included contract liabilities or not. We will take care about this change so you don’t have to, and just as we will make sure that you will be updated to the new taxonomy, we will also make sure that your account is linked to the correct new element. For us, this is a relatively simple task to do centrally – but for the 100 companies above to do it individually, it would require substantially more hours and cost on their side.
Our main objective is to give you a solution that is future-proof and does not require changes from year to year = reducing cost and time spent on your side.
Now, if you are met with a request for waiving automatic taxonomy updates and re-mapping, the cause is usually that you have made requests to our team which deviates substantially from best practices, XBRL logic or even common “XBRL sense”. A frequent cause is that our technical team is being asked to map e.g. “Revenue” as “Revenue from sales of goods” or similar, which not only creates a discrepancy between the information fed to the visual vs technical readers, but also requires the mapping to be changed year-over-year based on what you know is behind your figures (where the intention of ESEF is to replicate a primary financial statement with comparable information, not feeding additional details).
Waiving the automatic taxonomy update and re-mapping basically means that you will still have access to the newest taxonomies, but you will be put in complete charge of your mapping, making sure that is up to date with changes in requirements and/or changes to the taxonomy and best practices.
Please also note that while it might only be a single account that triggers the request for confirmation of waiving updates, the waiving affects your entire report going forward.
Ultimately, you may ask for automatic taxonomy and re-mapping updates to be reinstated at a later stage, but it requires a full review of your mapping which is a paid-for service.