XBRL News about sustainability disclosures and ESEF

Accountancy Europe on assurance of EU ESG disclosures

Accountancy Europe has released an interesting discussion paper on sustainability assurance under the proposed Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The CSRD introduces an EU-wide requirement for limited assurance on sustainability information, with the end goal to move to reasonable assurance in the longer term.

Assurance is one of the critical new elements of sustainability data, especially when it is disclosed via digital means. It is also very different from the status quo, which will raise the stakes for preparers‘ quality assurance.

Well over 3,000 ESEF filings at filings.xbrl.org! Where are they coming from, and how can we improve access?

Have you visited filings.xbrl.org recently – and are you finding it a useful resource? As filing season continues, we are still adding significant numbers of European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) reports to the site each week. As we go to press it contains over 3,400 filings in the digital, Inline XBRL-based ESEF format, now in use for financial reporting across Europe.

The comments about the disparate practices and states of awareness across Europe are especially poignant. High time for the European Single Access Point (ESAP) to come to life!

Staff request for feedback to inform future development of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy for digital reporting

The staff request for feedback outlines staff recommendations to inform the development of a taxonomy to enable digital consumption of sustainability disclosures prepared using the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards. The staff recommendations focus on fundamental matters that need to be considered early to enable the ISSB to publish the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy on a timely basis.

ISSB looks to be pulling ahead in its race with EFRAG for fully digitised sustainability reporting. This detailed request for feedback offers a lot of food for thought about how to process better quality sustainability information in the future. Worth looking into and providing feedback!