In this article you will find a detailed suggestion of how to prepare your ESEF-report in the best way possible - from start to finish.
We recommend performing the following steps to sufficiently prepare your report, in the best possible way, for the upcoming ESEF reporting period. These steps will guide you from the onboarding session, all the way to having a finished ESEF report ready for your publishing date. Below, an overview of all the primary steps is presented:
- Make a list over which Block-tags you want to use
- Review iXBRL zip-package + Block-tag list with your auditor
- Agree on Block tags
- Update your Excel template
- Highlight changes
- Technical check
- Test-conversion with condensed PDF report
- Check hypertags / block tags
- Download iXBRL zip-package
- Send iXBRL zip-package for final auditor review
- Upload iXBRL zip-package to your local authorities
- Make a list over which Block-tags you want to use
The first step is to make a list over which block-tags you want to use for the tagging of your notes. To do this, go through your notes (your notes from your previous report can also be used if your new report is not ready yet, as notes rarely change much from the prior year) and check which of the block-tags from the 'ESEF hypertags'-sheet in the Excel-template, you want to use. Make a list containing all of the tags that you want to use for your notes (we recommend to use the 'Note list'-function in the ESEF hypertags-sheet). For more detailed information on how to use the ESEF hypertags-sheet, click this link. For information about how to create and use 'multi-tags', click this link.
If you have a note which content cannot be covered by any block-tags listed in the 'ESEF hypertags'-list, check the full ESEF taxonomy to see if there exists a note-element that can accurately cover the meaning of your note. When you have found your note-element, write an e-mail to support@parseport.com and we will create a block-tag for you. If you also cannot find a sufficient note-element in the full ESEF taxonomy, write us an email and we will figure out if we need to create an extension for you. - Review iXBRL zip-package + Block-tags list with your auditor
The second step is to send the iXBRL zip-package (made from your previous report,) that you received from us after the Onboarding meeting, as well as your Block-tags list, to your auditor. It is important that you send the entire zip-file, un-opened. Your auditor will then review the iXBRL report to discuss any potential comments or suggestions regarding the mapping and the technical aspects of ESEF. They will also review the block-tags that you have suggested to use. After coming to a final agreement regarding potential changes to either the mapping and/or use of Block-tags, if any of these need to be reviewed by ParsePort (i.e., how certain accounts are mapped to the standard ESEF taxonomy), send an email with these comments to support@parseport.com. We will then review these comments and get back to you with our feedback
If your auditor wants to review the iXBRL zip-package with our Inspector tool they can gain access through this link.
After you have reviewed the iXBRL zip-package with your auditor (and any potential changes have been completed), you can begin preparations for your next ESEF report.
- Agree on Block tags
The third step is to agree with your auditor on which block tags need to be used for which of your notes. As notes normally won’t change much from the previous year, we recommend that you already begin (before your next report is ready) the process of deciding on which block tags you need to use, on behalf of your previous report’s notes. If you are using designers for the creation of your PDF, we advise you to ask them to insert the block tags (and the hypertags for your company information) into the original source file (the original file the agency is working with) for your upcoming report. By doing this, you avoid having to insert your hypertags / block tags every time you make a change in your report and make a new PDF version.
Click following link to view a tutorial of how to block tag your report.
- Update your Excel template
The fourth step is to update your Excel template with all the relevant information from your most recent financial period. This includes general data, potentially new, deleted or changed accounts as well as inserting your new financial figures.
Follow this link to learn more about how to update your Excel template. If you have previously agreed to have your onboarding session recorded and sent to you, you can also use it to refresh the process of updating the Excel template.
- Highlight changes
Next, highlight all changes that you have made in your updated Excel template (new accounts, change in label names, etc.) in yellow, along with a short description of what you specifically have changed. Send the updated Excel template with highlights and comments to support@parseport.com. We will then make sure that the mapping is updated in accordance with these changes.
We recommend you agree on all the changes that need to be made regarding the accounts in the financial statements, before sending an email to ParsePort. This way, you save time by preventing a lot of back-and-forth communication every time a single change has been made.
- Technical check
When the financial figures for your given reporting period are ready, we highly recommend that you update your Excel template with these figures in order to perform a technical check of the data in your ESEF report.
To sufficiently perform a technical check, you just need your updated Excel-template. You do not have to also upload your PDF at this stage. This check will help you uncover potential problems (such as calculation inconsistencies/errors in your financial statements) early in the ESEF reporting process.
Click here to view a tutorial of how to perform a technical check.
- Test-conversion with condensed PDF report
While your designers are working on your full PDF report, if it is possible, ask them (in advance of the report being finished) for just the pages containing your financial statements. Perform conversions with the ‘condensed’ PDF report and your updated Excel template. This will enable you to see any unexpected errors, etc., that need to be addressed before the full PDF is finished. - Check hypertags / block tags
Once your full PDF (a draft is okay) is ready, perform a conversion with both the updated Excel template and your full report. Use our Inspector tool to examine if the hypertagging of the mandatory markups, and the block tagging of your notes, have been performed correctly. Check the Validation tab in our Inspector tool to see potential errors, warnings, etc. - Download iXBRL zip-package
Once you are happy with the validation of your report, and all relevant information has been correctly tagged, download your iXBRL zip-package from our Inspector tool. To download your iXBRL-zip package, simply click the ZIP-icon in the top right corner on the validation page:
Remember, your iXBRL zip-package is your ESEF report.
- Send iXBRL zip-package for final auditor review
Next step is to send the iXBRL zip-package to your auditor for revision of the final ESEF report (we recommend for auditor revision to be ongoing throughout the whole process).
If your auditor has any comments or suggestions regarding your iXBRL-zip package, that need to be addressed, send a detailed description of these to support@parseport.com and we will review and provide feedback. After any potential changes, perform a new conversion to see if the changes are in effect. Send this new iXBRL-zip package to your auditor for a final review.
- Upload iXBRL zip-package to your local authorities
If no additional auditor suggestions or comments need to be addressed, upload the final iXBRL zip-package (make sure the zip-package is un-opened) to your local authorities. If your ESEF report is approved, you have now filed your report. Congratulations!
If you have any questions regarding the filing-process, consult your auditor and/or your local authorities.
Please consult our knowledge base regarding any possible questions that may arise during any of the steps above. For further help, write an email to support@parseport.com detailing your problem with screenshots, and we will be happy to help you.