ESMA releases 2024 taxonomy for public use
The European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) released on Wednesday its 2024 taxonomy and conformance suite. This release incorporates the Calc 1.1 specification into the requirements by way of the IFRS 2024 taxonomy, adopts the IFRS 2024 taxonomy and makes some minor changes to business rules.
It should be particularly helpful for dual-listed issuers that also file their annual accounts with the US SEC.
Issuers are permitted to file their 2024 disclosures using the 2024 taxonomy, or the previously released 2022 taxonomy. Strictly speaking this is technically necessary as the 2024 taxonomy only has the force of law 20 days after the document has been published in the EU’s Federal Gazette. That has not happened yet which means that the taxonomy can’t be used by any (keen) company that seeks to publish their accounts asap. We’ll get some clarification, but the way we read the announcement, it seems that because of the timelines involved companies will be permitted to use the 2022 taxonomy for their 2025 filings. Sounds complicated? It isn’t ESMA’s fault!
This might become something of a minor theme for us this year, but the habit of the EU — and several other jurisdictions — to impose analogue process on digital rules is something that must frustrate regulators, issuers and users alike. The adoption of (or non-objection to) accounting standards following relevant endorsement actions is common, but since the accompanying XBRL taxonomies are (or certainly should be) digital twins of the relevant standards, the idea that they must be treated as another step that requires slow, laborious, mechanical publication in an analogue form and a wide range of rubber stamp approvals, as if the digital taxonomy was a piece of legislation or a set of parking regulations, is bizarre. Jurisdictions that seek to ensure that their markets are attractive in the second quarter of the 21st century need to bake digital disclosures into their operations, which means consigning these kinds of analogue rules to history.
That aside, the taxonomy, conformance suite and explanations are all available at the ESMA web site.
