The Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) has introduced a new requirement concerning the structuring of financial statement information in digital format (PRH/1088/01/2026 and PRH/1087/01/2026).
The decisions are based on the Finnish Accounting Act and concern the digital tagging of financial statement documents of companies subject to sustainability reporting, starting from financial periods beginning in 2026. The exact date of application depends on when the company falls within the scope of the sustainability reporting obligation.
Who does the requirement apply to, and when?
The requirement to use PRH identifiers applies to companies subject to sustainability reporting. A company or group of companies is required to prepare a sustainability report if its turnover exceeds EUR 450 million and it has more than 1,000 employees.
If a company was already subject to sustainability reporting before the amendment that entered into force on 1 July 2026, the PRH decision applies to financial periods starting on or after 1 January 2026. For companies that become subject to sustainability reporting later, the requirement applies to financial periods starting on or after 1 July 2026.
The requirement to file digital, structured financial statements also applies to companies that do not meet the statutory sustainability reporting thresholds but have voluntarily committed to preparing a sustainability report in accordance with the Finnish Accounting Act and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
The scope of mandatory digital financial reporting is also proposed to expand further. Under Government Proposal HE 96/2026, digital financial statements would become mandatory for in-scope companies subject to statutory audit requirements for financial periods starting on or after 1 July 2027. For other companies within the proposed scope, the obligation would apply to financial periods starting on or after 1 July 2028, if the proposal is enacted as proposed.
The applicable taxonomy depends on the accounting framework used to prepare the financial statements:
In SBR tagging, information in the financial statements is mapped to the elements defined in the SBR taxonomy. This allows information in, for example, the income statement, balance sheet and notes to the financial statements to be presented in a structured, consistent and machine-readable format.
The financial statements are filed in XHTML format, with the relevant financial statement information tagged in iXBRL using the applicable taxonomy. The report can also be validated against the requirements of the applicable taxonomy before filing. The PRH approves the applicable version of the SBR taxonomy for each reporting period.
What does this mean in practice for listed companies?
For Finnish listed companies, the SBR requirement introduces a new layer alongside the existing ESEF reporting process.
Consolidated figures in consolidated financial statements will continue to be tagged using the ESEF taxonomy. However, where the parent company’s separate financial statements are prepared in accordance with FAS, the parent company figures must be tagged using the SBR taxonomy.
In practice, companies may therefore need to apply several different taxonomies within the same reporting process. This increases the importance of automated tagging, validation and a consistent reporting process.
According to the PRH’s interpretation, the audit of digital tags forms part of the statutory audit. No separate engagement is required for the auditor to audit the digital tags. Tagging and validation should therefore be considered already when planning the financial statement reporting process.
SBR tagging can be integrated into the existing reporting process
With Sustashift, SBR tagging can be incorporated into the company’s existing financial statement and annual reporting process without replacing the entire reporting system.
For example, a company can:
When an already designed report is tagged, its existing visual appearance remains unchanged.
Review your SBR requirements and existing reporting process
Book a meeting with us (link), and we will review your current reporting process and explain what the SBR requirements mean for your company.
At the same time, we can assess how the requirements can be implemented with minimal changes to your existing process and demonstrate how our platform can support the digital tagging of financial statement information.
