IFRS Foundation develops electronic filing guide for regulators

 03 June 2015


The IFRS Foundation, responsible for the governance and oversight of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), has developed a guide to help market regulators around the world adopt the IFRS Taxonomy for the electronic filing of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) financial statements.

The guide is part of the IFRS Foundation's and the IASB’s increased focus on digital reporting and on assisting regulators and stock exchanges that require entities to make their general purpose financial statements available in a structured digital format.  It was presented at a workshop in Tokyo, Japan, to regulators from across Asia.

The aim of this guide is to help regulators and other organisations developing and implementing structured electronic filing requirements to use the IFRS Taxonomy. It provides an introduction to the IFRS Taxonomy, details on how it can be used within a filing system and best practice examples.

Hans Hoogervorst, IASB Chairman, commented:

"There is a growing trend towards utilising technology to make financial information more accessible to investors. We are working closely with regulators who are developing electronic reporting platforms for IFRS financial reports in order to them develop best practice."

To further enable electronic filing, the IASB now considers digital reporting and the IFRS Taxonomy through-out the standard-setting process instead of at the end of the development of a Standard.

The IFRS Foundation has also embarked on a project to map current filing requirements for IFRS financial statements around the world and to gather data on use of electronic filing and the IFRS Taxonomy. This will result in profiles being published on the IFRS Foundation’s website.

The Using the IFRS Taxonomy – a regulator’s guide can be accessed here.