The Global Standard for Classifying Corporate Disclosures

An open-source framework designed to organize and classify the disclosures of publicly listed companies in a consistent and comparable way.

Download Methodology (PDF) Download Classifications (XLSX)

The Challenge & Solution

From Fragmentation to a Unified Standard

A Fragmented Reporting Landscape

In practice, corporate reports are classified in many different ways. A regulatory-driven model often results in fragmented categories across jurisdictions. A format-based model is practical but may overlook the functional purpose of a report. As reporting has expanded to include ESG, risk, and governance topics, the limitations of purely financial or format-based schemes have become clear.

The FRCF: A Function-Oriented Framework

The Financial Reporting Classification Framework (FRCF) is designed to meet this need. It organizes disclosures into broader functional categories, ensuring reports remain compliant while also being comparable, transparent, and relevant for all stakeholders in today's complex reporting environment.

Core Principles

A Transparent and Comprehensive Framework

The framework is built on a set of core principles to ensure it is robust, scalable, and practical for all market participants.

Hierarchical Design.: Documents are organized in tiers: Disclosure Type → Report Type → Publication Type, allowing for systematic classification.
Comprehensive Coverage.: The structure spans the full range of corporate disclosures, including financial, governance, ESG, debt, and legal announcements.
Cross-Market Applicability.: Includes formats relevant to multiple jurisdictions, from EU-specific ESEF reports to U.S. SEC filings and global disclosures.
Standardized & Comparable.: Designed to standardize corporate disclosures, enabling easier comparison, tracking, and analysis across issuers and sectors.

Open Source Intelligence

Automate Classification with Our AI Model

We've open-sourced the production-grade Hierarchical Cascade Classifier that powers FinancialReports.eu. Trained on 27,000+ filings, it achieves state-of-the-art performance in categorizing documents according to the FRCF standard.

Global Weighted F1

93.5%

Router Accuracy

97.3%

Distinct Classes

Training Documents

27k+

Get Model on Hugging Face

classifier.py

from inference_wrapper import FinancialFilingClassifier

# Load the specialized hierarchical model
classifier = FinancialFilingClassifier("models/frcf_v1")

# Predict using text & document length
doc_text = "ACME CORP ANNUAL REPORT 2024..."
result = classifier.predict(
    text=doc_text[:32000], 
    real_length=2500000
)

print(result)
# Output:
# {
#   'category': 'Financial Reporting',
#   'label': 'Annual Report',
#   'score': 0.985
# }

The Framework Visualized

A Universe of Disclosures, Unified

Our Financial Reporting Classification Framework (FRCF) brings order to the complex universe of corporate filings. This visual represents the breadth of our classification, mapping the entire disclosure landscape to provide a single, coherent standard for analysis.

Explore the Framework

The FRCF at a Glance

The framework is organized into a three-tiered hierarchy, moving from 11 broad disclosure areas down to 109 specific publication types. Select a disclosure type to see the related reports.

Adopt the Standard Today

Download the complete methodology and classification list to bring clarity and consistency to your financial data workflow.