VSME: EFRAG’s VSME template and how it helps SMEs go digital
VSME: What is EFRAG's VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy? How does it help SMEs?
Last updated: 06/16/2025
1. Introduction
Sustainability reporting can feel complicated and costly, especially for smaller companies. The VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy make it much easier. They give you a free Excel workbook where each cell is already linked to a digital tag, so you can turn your report into a clean, machine-readable file with just one click. EFRAG released this toolkit in May 2025 to help unlisted companies with fewer than 250 employees report their sustainability data more easily.
In this article you will learn:
✅ What the VSME Standard is and who it’s for
✅ How the VSME Digital Template helps SMEs report sustainability data in Excel
✅ How the XBRL Taxonomy automatically turns each cell into a digital datapoint
✅ A step-by-step guide to going from data entry to validated Inline XBRL output
✅ The benefits and limitations of the toolkit—and what updates EFRAG is planning next
By the end you’ll understand how to plug this open-source kit into your sustainability process.
2. What is the VSME?
The VSME standard is a voluntary framework aimed at micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to enhance their sustainability practices and reporting without the complexity of larger frameworks. Learn more about the VSME and to whom it applies here:
3. What is the VSME digital template and XBRL taxonomy?
EFRAG’s VSME toolkit is made up of three connected parts, designed to make sustainability reporting simple, structured, and digital for non-listed SMEs:
Excel Digital Template (v1.0.0): A user-friendly workbook that covers every disclosure in the VSME Standard, both Basic (B-series) and Comprehensive (C-series). Companies choose either Option A (Basic only) or Option B (Basic + Comprehensive), and the template adapts automatically. Rows appear or hide based on checkbox selections.
Features include built-in formulas for totals, drop-downs for semi-narrative responses, real-time validation alerts, and clickable links to the relevant VSME paragraphs. See the Excel here: VSME-Digital-Template-1.0.1.xlsxVSME XBRL Taxonomy: A machine-readable data model that gives each cell in the template a unique XBRL tag. The taxonomy is deliberately kept simple: no more than one dimension per table and a few placeholder fields for custom use. Unlike other standards (like ESRS Set 1), there’s no need to manually tag anything, the structure is already built into the Excel file.
Digital Template-to-XBRL Converter: A lightweight tool (written in Python) that takes your filled-out Excel file and instantly generates a complete XBRL package, including Inline XBRL (iXBRL), XBRL-CSV, and a human-readable XHTML viewer. Like the rest of the toolkit, it’s free to use under the MIT open-source licence.
Together with a step-by-step explanatory note and an upcoming video tutorial, these tools form a complete starter kit for digital sustainability reporting. Which can be found on the website of EFRAG: VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy | EFRAG.
4. Integrating the toolkit into corporate sustainability reporting
The VSME Digital Template and XBRL Taxonomy are designed to slot naturally into the typical annual sustainability reporting workflow of an SME. Here’s how the process works step-by-step:
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