The VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy are intended to enable digital sustainability reporting in accordance with the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME), which was adopted as a recommendation by the European Commission (EC) on 30 July 2025.
The VSME Standard has been developed for use by non-listed SMEs, including micro-enterprises, and has not been tested for use by larger and more complex companies (i.e. those with more than 250 employees). The work of the VSME Ecosystem, including the Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy, aims to support companies with fewer than 250 employees in applying the VSME Standard by standardising the custom questionnaires that many currently face.
The VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy form part of the fifth deliverable, “VSME Support Guides”, and were developed in response to feedback from preparers and users during the public consultation on the VSME Exposure Draft, which took place from 22 January to 21 May 2024. In April 2025, the EFRAG Secretariat consulted members of the SME Forum and the DRCF on the VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy prior to their release.
Please note that the EFRAG Secretariat updated all materials following the publication of the VSME recommendation of the European Commission.
All materials are accompanied by an extensive Explanatory Note, which provides further background information and is recommended reading prior to using any of the materials.
The VSME Digital Template (Excel) enables user-friendly data entry, including:
- Interactive checkboxes and validations to determine which disclosures are required, based on conditions being met;
- Auto-calculation of totals;
- Validations and consistency checks using formulae and data validation;
- Drop-down menus and checkboxes for semi-narrative disclosures;
- Hyperlinks to the VSME text (at paragraph level) for each cell/column;
- Colour-coding and tooltips for different categories of data points (e.g. Basic/Comprehensive Module, If Applicable);
- A fuel-to-MWh converter.
The VSME XBRL Taxonomy enables the digitalisation of VSME disclosures by:
- Providing a tool- and vendor-independent data model of VSME disclosures, allowing reporting in various technical formats (Inline XBRL, XBRL-JSON, XBRL-CSV);
- Facilitating data exchange and database imports using a structured, license-free, and open format;
- Acting as a pre-structured template, in contrast to ESRS Set 1, which typically requires the tagging of human-readable disclosures, thereby making digital tagging unnecessary. It serves as an invisible definition of data points, maintained by EFRAG.
Additionally, the EFRAG Secretariat has developed a Digital-Report-to-XBRL Converter, enabling the conversion of the VSME Digital Template into a digital, human- and machine-readable XBRL report.
- It is available online or can be used locally via the command line;
- It allows the conversion of the Digital Template into a tagged Inline XBRL report;
- It includes full XBRL validation;
- The source code has been released as open-source software under the MIT licence, to support integration and enable digital reporting across platforms.
Resources
Educational Video
- VSME Digital Template and Conversion to XBRL Explanatory Video, published on 23 June 2025.
Explanatory Note
VSME Digital Template
- VSME Digital Template Version 1.1.0 (XLSX, 500KB), published on 3 October 2025.
- Mock-up example of pre-filled VSME Digital Template Version 1.1.0 (XLSX, 500KB), published on 3 October 2025.
Digital Template to XBRL Converter
The Digital Template was developed and tested using Microsoft Excel 365. Functionality may be limited or incorrect when using other spreadsheet applications or older versions of Excel.
The EFRAG Secretariat is interested in real VSME disclosures for internal analytical purposes (i.e. reports will not be shared nor published), please feel free to share your VSME report by sending it to vsme@efrag.org .
VSME XBRL Taxonomy
- VSME XBRL Taxonomy Package (ZIP, 200KB), published on 3 October 2025.
- Entry point: https://xbrl.efrag.org/taxonomy/vsme/2025-07-30/vsme-all.xsd
Outdated Resources
The previous versions of the Digital Template and other materials are available on Github, including a change log in each release description. The outdated versions should not be used.
- VSME Digital Template Version 1.0.0 (XLSX, 500KB), published on 27 May 2025.
- Mock-up example of pre-filled VSME Digital Template Version 1.0.0 (XLSX, 500KB), published on 27 May 2025.
- VSME Digital Template and Explanatory Note (PDF), published on 27 May 2025.
- VSME Digital Template Version 1.0.1 (XLSX, 500KB), published on 16 June 2025.
- Mock-up example of pre-filled VSME Digital Template Version 1.0.1 (XLSX, 500KB), published on 16 June 2025.
- VSME XBRL Taxonomy Package (ZIP, 300KB), published on 27 May 2025.
Annex II VSME XBRL Taxonomy illustrated in Excel (XLSX, 360KB), published on 27 May 2025.
Contact
If you wish to raise an issue with the VSME Digital Template or the Digital Template to XBRL Converter, please do so by creating an issue in the GitHub project.
For all other inquiries, contact the EFRAG digital team.