On 28 June 2017, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) specified the electronic format in which annual financial reports from 2020 will have to be prepared. In order to assess whether the draft rules are practicable and to determine to which extent they have to be improved, ESMA is organising field tests with interested stakeholders.

The field tests will consist of transforming annual financial reports by issuers to Inline XBRL instance documents, according to ESMA’s draft ESEF specifications.

ESMA is seeking participation from:

· issuers on European regulated markets from all industries preparing IFRS consolidated financial statements; and

· software vendors.

Participating issuers will receive free support to transform their annual financial report to Inline XBRL. They will thus be able to learn how the Inline XBRL format can be applied. Furthermore, the effort for their first filings, once the preparation of the annual financial report in the European Single Electronic Format becomes mandatory in 2020, will be significantly reduced. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the specifications of a European Single Electronic Format that better fits their reporting needs.

Timeline and contact details

Applications are welcome by Friday 14 July. Several workshops will be held from the end of July until the end of August. ESMA will provide interested issuers with a list of possible dates.

Issuers and software vendors interested in participating in the field tests are invited to contact [email protected].