Extending the core taxonomy - Creating a new tag

In the article " Tagging the primary statements - Step 2 - Apply a tag to each fact in the report section", we discussed the process of finding an appropriate tag in the taxonomy to manually tag a fact in the report. As a summary:

• You should search using stems of keywords of the relevant accounting concept.
• You must not restrict your search to only the sections in the core taxonomy which deal with the primary statements - you must search the entire taxonomy.

It is not necessary to find a tag with exactly the same label as the label used in the report to describe the fact.  However, you should not materially distort the meaning of the fact by applying a core tag that does not accurately and completely describe the fact being tagged.

If no appropriate tag is found, you should create your own (extended) tag.

Creating a tag

To create a tag, select the Extended Taxonomy view of the Primary tags panel: This displays the presentation view of your extended taxonomy that will be included in your ESEF submission. 

To create a tag, select an abstract tag (a tag with a shield icon) that will become the new tag's parent.  For example, if you need a tag for Bank borrowing and overdrafts in the Current liabilities section, select the tag as indicated below:

Then click the Add tag to current location button.

This will open up a wizard which will;

• initially help you to find an appropriate tag that already exists in the taxonomy, and if not;
• allow you to create a new extended tag.

Step 1 - search for an existing tag

Report Authority will prevent you from creating a new tag unless you have entered a search term.  This is to discourage the creation of unnecessary extended tags which is contra to ESMA's ESEF filing manual.

In the example above, we are looking for a tag for Bank borrowing and overdrafts so I entered a search term of "ban bor".  Report Authority simplifies the search for existing tags in this form by:

• Search for only movement (duration) tags when the selected tag is a movement tag.
• Search for only closing/opening balance (instant) tags when the selected tag is a closing/opening balance tag.
• Sorting the results first by debit or credit to match the selected tag.
• Search the entire taxonomy in a single flat list.

It is clear in the screenshot that no appropriate tag exists for Bank borrowing and overdrafts so we will create an extended tag.

Step 2 - create an extended tagStandard label: Provide a unique label for the extended tag

Balance: Debit or Credit.  This denotes the interpreted balance should you provide a positive number for the extended tag in the XBRL.  Please note that it is expected that most facts should be positive in the XBRL.  Items that are typically presented in financial statements as deductions (such as expenses, creditors, disposals etc) should still be shown as positive values in the XBRL.  Therefore the balance attribute should be set to Debit in these cases.  Concepts that could have either a positive or a negative number - such as Gross profit (loss) - since a positive value for this would be interpreted as a credit, the tag should have a Credit balance attribute.

Period: Instant or Duration.  Items that represent a balance as at a particular date, such as opening and closing balances should be set to Instant.  Items that represent a movement for the period, such as income statement items should be set to Duration. 

Anchoring

Anchoring is the act of associating your new tag to other tags in the core taxonomy.  The ESEF filing manual states that all extended tags MUST contain an anchor to a tag that is wider in scope and MAY contain one or more anchors to tags that are narrower in scope except in the following cases:

• It is not necessary to anchor tags that represent subtotals; and
• It is not necessary to anchor tags that are optionally used outside of the primary statements 

Wider in scope

In our example, we must anchor our extended tag  Bank borrowing and overdrafts to a tag that is wider in scope - for example Current financial liabilities.  Search using the keyword stems and click the Wider checkbox:

ESEF guidance

Here is an extract from the ESEF filing manual:

Anchoring of extension elements to elements in the ESEF taxonomy that are wider in scope or meaning

Annex IV of the RTS on ESEF sets out that extension taxonomy elements marking-up the IFRS consolidated financial statements’ statement of financial position, statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows have to be anchored to elements of the ESEF taxonomy, except for elements corresponding to subtotals. This principle can be illustrated with an example. An issuer issued equity and it received one part of the capital increase in kind and another part in cash. It disclosed in its statement of changes of equity the two components separately. The ESEF taxonomy includes an element ‘issue of equity’ but it does not include separate elements for capital increases in kind and capital increases in cash. Therefore, the issuer creates extension taxonomy elements ‘capital increases in kind’ and ‘capital increases in cash’. Capital increases in kind and in cash are narrower in scope than the element ‘issue of equity’ and represent disaggregations of it. Therefore, the two extension elements are anchored to the wider base taxonomy element ‘issue of equity’. It is not necessary to anchor the two extension taxonomy elements to narrower elements in the ESEF taxonomy except for the case outlined in Anchoring of extension elements that are combinations

Please note that the RTS on ESEF does not set an anchoring requirement for the Notes to the financial statements. Therefore, if issuers decide on a voluntary basis to create detailed tag extension elements to mark-up their Notes, there is no obligation to anchor such extension element.

Narrower in scope

Because our extended tag combines two accounting concepts (1. Bank borrowings and 2. Bank overdrafts), we can anchor it to tags representing both these narrower accounting concepts:

ESEF guidance

Here is an extract from the ESEF filing manual:

Anchoring of extension elements that are combinations

Annex IV of the RTS on ESEF sets out that where an extension taxonomy element combines a number of elements of the ESEF taxonomy, issuers shall anchor that extension taxonomy element to each of the elements in the ESEF taxonomy it combines, except where these elements are reasonably deemed insignificant.

This principle is best illustrated with an example. An issuer discloses in its IFRS statement of financial position an item ‘issued capital and share premium’. The ESEF taxonomy does not include such an item. Therefore, it is necessary to create an extension taxonomy element. However, the taxonomy includes the elements ‘issued capital’ and ‘share premium’. The extension taxonomy element represents a combination of the two elements that are available in the ESEF taxonomy. The extension taxonomy element ‘issued capital and share premium’ shall be anchored to these two elements, indicating that it is wider in scope than these two elements.

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