The Standard You're Forgetting About

Have you ever heard of the ESEF? I'll try to jog your memory:

• It's a standard.
• Commissioned back in 2013...
• ...by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
• It regards published financial reports.
• The "F" is for Format...

Anything? If not, then you're not alone: most people seem to have been so focused on IFRS 9, 15, and 16, plus new CSR requirements and other new directives, that they have let the ESEF slip by.

But slip by it shouldn't. The European Single Electronic Format (ahhh) or ESEF defines the format of published financial reports in light of the "transparency directive" (Directive 2004/109/EC), which requires all listed companies in the European Union to prepare IFRS financial reports.