Year One done? Malta implements ESEF
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has announced that the country has concluded its first digital reporting period under the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF). With a mandate in place across the continent for the first time this year, over two thousand European companies have already submitted their annual reports in this Inline XBRL-based format, and more continue to do so.
As in many other countries, the introduction of mandatory digital reporting through ESEF was a new experience for Maltese companies. “All listed entities which intended to submit their annual reports electronically by the end of April managed to do so successfully, the first time that this has been done in Malta,” says the MFSA.
The Authority emphasises the importance of a collaborative preparation process and strong communication in achieving this transition. It “dedicated considerable time to preparing the relevant stakeholders for the change, working closely with the Malta Institute of Accountants, the Malta Business Registry, the Malta Stock Exchange and the Accountancy Board.” The majority of issuers in Malta were due to publish their first annual financial reports in ESEF by the end of April 2022, “all of whom were well prepared, in terms of the new reporting format, to publish their reports by the submission deadline.”
Lorraine Vella, Head of MFSA’s new Capital Markets Supervision Function, says: “ESEF is another step in the interest of investor protection through the increased ease of ability to consume the large amount of information contained in financial reports. Hopefully the merging of accounting and technology to create electronic financial reports will improve usability, comparability and transparency” – hear, hear!
Read more here. Or if you are interested in seeing ESEF reports in the flesh, go to filings.xbrl.org – which includes the option to sort by country.
