This how-to will give a quick overview of the Tangelo application. For more detailled information please browse our Help Center. 

After you have logged in to Tangelo, the main screen will appear. 

Here Tangelo will show recent documents you have opened (if you are a new user this will be empty), available document types and on the top right of your screen it shows tabs with options within Tangelo, depending on your role in the system. 

Recently viewed by you displays documents you have recently opened. This list wil be populated by documents you have opened and is therefor prone to change. The list includes all documents from all document types. 

All documents displays available document types. A document type is a type of branded document. Every document type contains the layout information of the documents inside that type. For instance the Annual Report in the above example will hold all documents in the formatting of the annual report branding. 

The hamburger menu behind the document name in the recently viewed by you reveals the actions you can do with the document, depending on your user rights. 

Click a document to open it, or click on the document types icons to go the correct document type and select your document to open there. 

After you have selected the document type, Tangelo will display a list of documents to edit. 

Open the document by clicking on the document. Or use the hamburger menu to use other options (depending on your user rights)

Creating a PDF of a document

In the screen above you can select Create PDF. This will prompt a window to generate a full PDF of the whole document without editing the document. 

Some options can be set, for example, if the document uses different versions, the Show changes menu will show the option to compare different versions of the document in a PDF output. 

To generate the PDF click on the PDF button: and Tangelo will generate a full PDF of the document, this is the end result of the document. If needed select the Print option at Format to generate the full print ready version of the document. 

Opening a document

Click on the document, or select Edit in the hamburger menu to open the document. 

Tangelo will show the tree structure of the document, with all sections, chapters, paragraphs etc. In some cases the tree will not be expanded and it will look like this: 

Click on the logo in front of the document title to open the document tree. Use CTRL+click to open the whole tree and view all sections / chapters / paragraphs, etc.

Double click on a title of a section to open the Tangelo editor. 

The hamburger menu has extra options per section:

Adding a section / chapter / paragraph / subparagraph

To add something to the document tree, use the Add menu hamburger menu. Depending where you are located inside the document tree, options will appear. For example: a paragraph is always nested inside a chapter and a subparagraph inside a paragraph. Adding a paragraph in a section is not possible since it is a child of a chapter and will therefor not appear in the add menu when using the hamburger menu on a section. 

In the above case we can add a chapter to a section, but only a chapter, no paragraph. Or we can add a section before or after this section. The same goes for paragraphs and subparagraphs, it depends where in the tree you are located. 

Moving things around

Moving of chapters / paragraphs etc, is very easy in Tangelo. Use the hamburger menu and go to the move menu. 

You can manually move something one place above or one place below it's current position in the tree. 

Tangelo uses a hierarchy or levels. So a paragraph can not be moved to the same level as a chapter. You can cut or copy and past sections / chapters / paragraphs, etc, but pasting can only be done at the same hierarchy level. Since that level determines the design. 

Removing a section / chapter / paragraph / subparagraph

To remove a section / chapter / paragraph / subparagraph or anything else from the document tree, use the hamburger menu and select Delete. Please note that once it's deleted, it is deleted forever and that content can not be recovered anymore. 

Editing a chapter

Double click on a node in the tree to edit that specific section / chapter / paragraph, etc.

All the things you need to know to do your ESEF filing in Tangelo without hassle ánd with a correct file. 

We have created a video specifically for the yearly roll forward in Tangelo. In 30 minutes we will guide you through all the steps you need to do, check, and more over: not to check, to end up with a succesfull ESEF file to share with your auditor or file. 

We will go through: 

1. Doing a roll forward of last years document
2. Checking and changing the publication dates
3. Checking the primairy statements
4. Checking the hyper tags 
5. Checking and changing the block tags
6. Running the block tag list export for you and your auditor

After these six steps your ESEF document is ready to go. Watch our video below. 

The easiest way to check if your block tags are placed correctly is to run the "Block tags report" export. You can find this export in the document menu at the top of the table of contents view in Tangelo.

This will provide an overview file (.xlsx) of all block tags from the "Tags that must be applied if corresponding information is present in a report", and the name of the section(s) in which it is applied.

To check the tagging in detail, you can use the ESEF preview as described in the steps below.

Step 1: Run the ESEF wizard in Tangelo

Run the ESEF wizard on your document. 

Step 2: Go to the preview of ESEF in Tangelo

Then go to the preview of the ESEF file. This will open a new window in your browser that displays your xHTML file from the ESEF package. 

 The middle button will open the preview .

Step 3: Check if a section has a block tag

Scroll to the section or element that is tagged.  When clicking somewhere in that section or element, a blue box will appear around the content that is tagged. This indicates there is an ESEF element, just as it does in Tangelo itself. Hovering over the section/element will display a blue box as well, indicating there is an element there. This blue box only appears when clicking on the content that is tagged or hovering over it.

Step 4: Check the block tag(s) itself

To see what tag a block is tagged with, see the properties pane on the right side of your screen. If you haven't clicked on the content yet, the properties will be empty: 

However, as soon as an element is clicked and the blue box appears, the properties pane will display the information about this section/element: 

In this example the properties pane displays that there are two block tags being used. The first is the block tag: ifrs-full:DescriptionOfReasonWhyFinancialStatementsAreNotEntirelyComparable and the second is ifrs-full:DisclosureOfAccruedExpensesAndOtherLiabilitiesExplanatory.  

The viewer always displays the full IFRS tag. 

These are the IFRS tags taken from the input in Tangelo.

In Tangelo you can add block tags. Block tags are mostly used to tag text information in your report. 

Currently block tags can be added per section (a section can be a section, chapter, paragraph, subparagraph, subsubparagraph, etc), or for a specific element inside such a section, for example a highlight block with accounting policies. 

Tagging in Tangelo is very easy, straightforward and quick.

What are block tags? 

ESMA defines block tags as following: 

In a block tag, the content of an entire section of a report is tagged as a single fact. The tag may include text, numerical values, tables and other data. The phrase “block tag” refers to the fact that the whole disclosure is tagged as a single block — any numbers or tables within the note are not individually tagged.

Read more on: https://www.xbrl.org/guidance-on-block-tagging-and-other-esef-reporting-manual-updates-from-esma/

What information should I tag?

All information that could be tagged by the tags in the Annex II of the RTS on ESEF should be tagged. These are typically subjects covered in the Notes to the consolidated financial statements and Accounting policies.

If your report contains notes on subjects not covered in this list, there is no requirement to tag these with a different tag or extension.

See the ESEF Reporting Manual pages 24-27 for more guidance on how these tags should be placed.

How to set block tags in Tangelo

You typically set a block tag on a section in Tangelo (paragraph/subparagraph/etc). The tag will apply to this complete section and any sections within. If you describe multiple subjects in a single section and using headings to mark the start of the next subject, you may want to split this into multiple subsections instead. Please contact us if you encounter situations where this is not (yet) possible: for example because you are already at the subsubparagraph level.

To set up tagging to to your document and click on the label button in the top ribbon

Tangelo will now display a gray box at the top of a section, displaying the tagging for that specific section. Also this mode enables the display of tags on paragraphs or elements as well. 

To set a block tag go to a section in Tangelo, just click on the gray bar or any block tags that are displayed there, then the list of block tags will appear.

Type part of the tag or scroll through the list. Select the block tag(s) that best describes the note/content that you are tagging and click Apply. Then the block tag is added to the current section. 

A complete list of block tags in Tangelo can be found here: List of available block tags.

Paragraphs, titles, elements and other things to tag

In the tagging mode elements that already have a tag will show up. To edit them simply click on them and repeat the steps to tag a chapter as described earlier.

If an item does not have a block tag already, then first add one. To do so open the properties of that item in the properties pane on the right side of the screen. 

There, locate the attribute "Esef - block tag" and click on the add-button. The field will now change into a pencil as seen below:

To view the list of available block tags now click on the pencil icon.  Tangelo will show a list of available block tags to be used based on the list of ESMA. 

Block tags will appear above the element, to edit them, simply click on them to add or remove tags. This can be done with almost all elements in Tangelo. 

Block tagging of headings/titles

Before applying a tag to a title, you should consider if this is the best way of tagging. A title typically belongs to a (sub)paragraph or highlight block in Tangelo, and that should be tagged in its entirety instead. By tagging the entire (sub)paragraph or highlight block, anything inside will be tagged as such, including the title. This is a setup that is more maintainable in the future, keeping the entire object tagged as such, also when more content is added.

This could mean that you need to change the structure of your document, and create a new level of (sub)paragraphs using the options in the Tangelo table of contents instead of using headings.

Multiple block tags

To select multiple block tags just select more block tags in the list. They will be automatically added to your block tag. 

Changing or removing a block tag

To change a block tag, make sure you are in tagging mode and click on the block tag that has to change or removed. In the pop up window, click on the cross right of the tag to remove the block tag. 

Add another tag by typing in the name of the block tag on the bottom. 

Alternatively to change a block tag as above remove the block tag from the section by clicking the trashcan-icon. This will clear the block tag. You can now select a new block tag. 

More and in-depth information about block tagging: https://www.xbrl.org/guidance/ixbrl-tagging-features/#9-multiple-tags-for-a-value

Steps for producing an ESEF report

1. Set up the general data in Tangelo and set the hypertags containing general data in your document. 
   Read more >

2. Prepare Excel files
   Your Excel files should contain totals and subtotals as formulas, as this information needs to be disclosed in the ESEF filing. Every statement requires formulas. There can not be statements that only contains numbers. Your filing will be rejected without formulas. 

3. Check and report changes in Excel files
   The source files may change per reporting year, it’s necessary to report changes in wording and new preparer extensions as well as possible custom labels.
   
   
4. Set up tables in Tangelo
   Using additional table properties, annotate tables with additional information to aid the recognition of the different lines into the correct XBRL tags. Read more >

5. Choose what chapters to include
   The ESEF filing replaces the pdf, so any content that should be in your annual report should now be in ESEF. You can make exceptions for additional chapters that are not required by the authorities. Read more >
   
   
6. Add your block tags to your document
   Your notes and sections that contain specific data should be tagged by block tags, add these to the correct sections / elements. Read more >
   
   
7. Generate report
   Convert into ESEF, identify any issues and preview the result. See the last chapter. Read more >
   
   
8. Troubleshoot your ESEF output if needed
   Sometimes slight changes in wording will cause errors, learn how to read the error log and correct them. Read more >

As the guidelines of ESEF are updated every year, sometimes block tags are added, changed or moved. 

As of FY 2024 some block tags that used to be regular block tags are now moved to hyper tags. 

The difference between regular block tags and hyper tags is, that hyper tags can be applied in a sentence and can contain certain words instead of a whole paragraph of section. Hyper tags are also used in the general data. 

The following regular block tags have been moved to hyper tags: 

• Length of life of limited life entity
• Explanation of departure from IFRS
• Explanation of financial effect of departure from IFRS
• Explanation of fact and basis for preparation of financial statements when not going concern basis Explanation of why entity not regarded as going concern
• Description of reason for using longer or shorter reporting period
• Description of fact that amounts presented in financial statements are not entirely comparable
• Explanation of sources of estimation uncertainty with significant risk of causing material adjustment

See how to set hyper tags here.

This happens often during setup. The engine didn’t recognise the label in the first column of the table.

Next to spotting this in the preview using the "Highlight" feature in the top right of the screen, you can also spot these errors in the "Conversion report" section of the error report.

There can be various reasons why labels are not being recognized:

1. Some labels always need a custom label to be recognized correctly. This is indicated in the Excel you received when the initial mapping was done. An example is the "Balance at 1 January 20xx" in the Statement of Changes in Equity. For this line you always need to set the ESEF label property on the table cell that contains the text, and set it to "Equity at beginning of period".
   
2. This can be because the text in the table has been changed from what has been mapped before. In most cases the mapping has been done correct earlier but the labels have been changed since. Sometimes to fix a spelling mistake, sometimes because it will look better in the document. Ideally the new spelling is added to the mapping. So if you are still gathering input for mapping changes, please include these cases in the update of what is changed.
   If the change in label is minor and you are sure that it is not an indicator that a different tag should be selected for this line item, this situation can also be fixed by adding the original text to the ESEF label property on the table cell that contains the label.
   Please note: even adding or removing a space, - or other (on first glance) minor changes, can cause cells to not be recognised by the engine. The engine uses auto-tagging, but only when the exact label is known to the system.
3. If it is a new label, then this should be mapped. Please note that it will take at least a full week for a mapping change in the engine. It is wise to freeze changes a week prior to publishing the ESEF file.
4. A custom label was set while not needed or not removed correctly. Remove the ESEF label property by using the trashcan.

In most cases cells aren’t recognised by the engine due to changes in wording, this is the best way to start your investigation and gives the quickest results.

A positive number was expected by the XBRL taxonomy but the number provided in the report is negative. XBRL taxonomy expects a positive number here and not a negative.

This could be a false positive, if you are reporting an exceptional situation, for example a negative value for a reserve. However, it could also mean that the value is not tagged correctly.

In XBRL, the fact value should always be relative to the balance of the concept that is chosen for the fact.

For example, the concept ifrs-full:CostOfSales is a debit concept in the IFRS taxonomy. So while you are likely to report this as a negative value in your readable version of the income statement, the underlying fact value in the iXBRL should be positive.

In most cases this is handled automatically. However, if you find out that for some of your line items this is not done correctly, you can correct this by setting the Concept is negative property on either the table row or a specific table cell to set it explicitly.

To find where these negative values are in your report you can use the preview feature and step through the financial statement values using the arrows in the top right. Check for negative values here, and review if they indeed should be negative.

This error in the top of your log output and needs to be resolved, it causes an incorrect filing packages as it will also generate the following error: 

Depending on your auditor, these can be ignored or should be addressed. 

The reason behind the illegal positive is that there is a value presented as debit but it should be credit, or it is changing from debit to credit or the other way around. In the example here above, Dividend with the value 1.000.000 should be a positive number, but is presented as a negative number, of the other way around. XBRL knows what items should be credit or debit and expects numbers to reflect that. However human readers need context as they do not know if a statement is a credit or debit statement. This often results in these errors.

The error also states where the number is located. In this case in chapter 3.2, table 6. That makes it easier to pinpoint the number. Pasting the ifrs-full:Dividend into the search bar of the inline viewer will cause you to jump to the correct number al well. 

In the report / statement the number will be written in a certain way for humans to be able to read it. For example dividend written as a negative number, while the number itself should be positive as the system automatically knows if its debit or credit here. 

In Tangelo under the cell properties, this situation can be reversed by using the "concept is negative" attribute:  (below: Esef - concept is n....)

This reverses the credit / debit value of a specific cell. 

Be careful as this also can generate other errors, since the system now handles the number differently. This can cause calculation errors on other statements. 

In ESEF (or any other inline XBRL report), you report both a human-readable report and machine readable tags. In the human readable report, you can report positive or negative numbers, and usually from the context it is clear to the reader how to interpret these numbers. However, there could be situations where there is ambiguity. In the machine readable version, no ambiguity is allowed to exist, and you have to make sure the signs of all reported values are correct.

Any type of expense for example can be shown as a negative number in the human-readable report: as it is an outflow it can make sense to represent this as a negative number. However, since the tag in the XBRL taxonomy already states it is an expense, reporting a negative number in the XBRL fact would actually represent an inflow.

The rule of thumb for setting the correct signs for XBRL fact values is to look at the wording and balance of the concepts in the taxonomy. In principle the default should be to always use positive values in the XBRL. If you report a negative value, that means the reported value differs from what would be expected for this concept.

Let's take a look at some examples to show how the sign in the XBRL fact can deviate from the sign in the readable report:

Finance costs is reported as a negative value in the human-readable report. In the context of the Profit or loss, it is an outflow, so this makes sense. However, looking at the wording and balance of the Finance costs tag, you see that this already indicates a cost, and the fact value should be positive.

Other finance income (cost) is also reported as a negative value in the human-readable report, as it is an outflow just as well. However, in this case you can see from the wording of the tag that it expects an income. In this case it is not an income, but a cost, and therefore the XBRL value should be negative.

Adjustments for finance income (cost) is reported as a positive value in the human-readable report, since in the context of the Cash Flow statement this is the case. However, since the tag again assumes adjustments for finance income, but this is actually adjustments for finance cost, a negative fact value should be reported.

For completeness, we can also look at the simple situation of Profit (loss) before tax. Since in this case a profit is reported, this is a positive value in both the human-readable version and the XBRL fact.

When to modify the default sign behavior?

First of all, it is important to understand the above, and understand the desired situation. For some cases, this will be already the case. Because of the ambiguity in the readable version, we cannot with certainty set the XBRL fact to the correct sign, and you might need to control this in Tangelo.

A good indication that the signs of the fact values in your report are not set correctly is if you are getting calculation inconsistencies. However, there can be facts that are not a part of a calculation, and it is worthwhile to check all.

To control the sign of the XBRL facts in the report, you can use the "Concept is negative" property in Tangelo. This is available on the row level for if you want to consistently set a certain sign for the entire row, or on the cell level if you want to set this for a specific year. Using this property you can explicitly set the fact value to either positive or negative.

See the table below on how to use this attribute to accomplish specific results for the XBRL fact value:

Credit (or no balance set in the taxonomy)

Debit

Further reading

ESEF Reporting Manual, Guidance 1.6: https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/esma32-60-254_esef_reporting_manual.pdf

https://www.corporatings.com/blog-post/best-esef-practices-how-to-avoid-of-sign-errors