“The digital transformation is imminent for the traditional processes, starting with the preparation of the consolidated financial statements, the audit, the publication and right up to their use by investment professionals. Sure, there are consolidated financial statements in PDF format for download, balance sheets prepared in spreadsheets for investors, fee-based databases for investment professionals, but consistent, efficient process chains look different. This is economically inefficient. The transparency of financial information and its efficient usability is a central prerequisite for providing all issuers of securities with equal and cost-effective capital. The approximately 7,500 companies affected in Europe also include small and mid-cap companies, whose data in the relevant databases is rather less comprehensive and less up-to-date.”

“The desired economic effects will only occur to the extent that the digital transformation actually reaches data users, investment professionals and investors. In addition, the supply of financial information, the subsequent information analysis and use of the data must acquire a dynamic of its own, which results from the fact that the individual transformation effects of those involved reinforce each other.”

You can read about the key success factors in my article in the Börsen-Zeitung:

Source: Kesselmeyer, Strukturiertes und einheitliches Datenformat ab 2020 – IFRS-Konzernabschluss schon bald mit iXBRL – Digitale Transformation der Finanzberichterstattung mit Hindernissen, Börsen-Zeitung Nr. 110, 10. Juni 2017, Sonderbeilage, Seite B6