FRC highlights opportunities to improve quality of structured digital reporting

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Published: 20 May 2026

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today published its latest review of structured digital reporting by UK listed companies, identifying areas where relatively simple improvements would significantly enhance the quality, consistency and usability of digital financial reporting.

The report, Structured Digital Reporting: Insights 2025/26, draws on a detailed review of 30 UK listed companies’ 2024/25 annual reports, alongside broader market analysis and engagement with preparers, software providers and other stakeholders.

High-quality structured data plays an increasingly important role in UK capital markets, particularly as data-driven analysis and artificial intelligence tools become more widely used to inform investment decisions.

Structured digital reporting (SDR) is now well embedded across the UK market, with most companies producing compliant and well-structured filings. However, the FRC’s review identifies recurring issues that continue to limit the usefulness of structured data for investors, regulators and other users.

The report emphasises that these issues are often avoidable and can be addressed through stronger review processes, clearer ownership of tagging decisions, and better use of existing guidance and tools.

The FRC continues to support the quality of structured reporting through the development and maintenance of UK taxonomies, guidance and tools for preparers and targeted quality reviews, all with consistent input from ongoing stakeholder engagement.

Looking ahead, the FRC will continue to focus on quality and judgement, ensuring that tags reflect the underlying accounting meaning, supported by robust review and clear ownership. Additionally, focus will be given to improving accessibility and usability through timely filing, and making structured reports easily available in formats that support user and AI consumption.