Reading a REGREP validation report.

The six layers

Validation is not a single test. Findings are produced by six layers applied in sequence, and knowing which layer produced a finding usually tells you where the fix belongs.

Anatomy of a finding

Each finding carries the same elements, and reading them in order is faster than reading the message first.

• The rule identifier — the framework’s own reference for the rule, so the finding can be looked up against the published rule set and quoted in correspondence with an authority.
• The location — the exact cell, row or element the finding attaches to, traced back to the position in your input rather than to a position in the output file.
• Expected and found — what the rule required and what your data supplied, stated as values rather than as prose.
• The severity — whether the finding stops an export.
• The rule text — the published wording, so the reasoning is visible without leaving the report.

Findings that arrive in clusters usually share one cause. A single unresolved reference or one mistyped identifier will produce a finding for every record that depended on it, so counting distinct causes matters more than counting findings.

Errors and warnings

A blocking finding means the framework’s own rules are not satisfied and the output package is not produced. A warning means a rule flagged the value as improbable rather than impermissible — a large period-on-period movement, an unusual but permitted combination, an empty section that is optional.

Warnings should not be dismissed as noise. Receiving systems run their own plausibility checks, and a warning here is frequently the same check the authority will raise as a query later. The useful discipline is to resolve each warning to one of two states: corrected, or explained and recorded.

Triage order

Working through a report in the order findings are listed is the slowest possible route. This order clears the most for the least effort:

1. Structure and data type first. These are usually one defect in an export, not many defects in the data. Fixing the export re-runs everything after it.
2. Then controlled vocabulary. Mapping a source value to a coded list is a one-time mapping change that clears every occurrence.
3. Then referential integrity. Repair the missing parent record, not each orphaned reference.
4. Then framework rules. These are the findings that genuinely need the business to look at the numbers.
5. Cross-period last, because earlier fixes change the figures being compared.
6. Re-run and compare rather than assuming a fix worked. A run that resolves ten findings and introduces two is a common and easily missed outcome.

Source data, mapping or judgement

Every finding resolves in one of three places, and misplacing the fix is what makes a filing cycle repeat.

Keeping the report as evidence

The validation report is part of the filing record. It shows what was checked, what was found and what state the data was in when the package was produced — which is exactly what an authority, an auditor or a successor team asks for when a figure is questioned much later. Download and retain the report for every submitted run, including the runs that were superseded, and keep the explanation attached to any warning that was accepted rather than corrected.

Official sources

Primary instruments only. Each is named in full so the reference remains traceable even if a link moves.

1. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/3117 on supervisory reporting of institutions — the source of the reporting rules validated for COREP and FINREPEUR-Lex · Implementing Regulation · templates, instructions and reporting rules
2. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 — the source of the register of information template and format rulesEUR-Lex · Implementing Regulation · data format and completion requirements
3. Internal Revenue Service — FATCA XML schemas and business rules for Form 8966IRS · the published business rules validated for FATCA filings
4. European Banking Authority — published validation rules accompanying each reporting framework releaseEBA · the rule set applied for EBA XBRL frameworks · consult the current release

REGREP is an independent software provider. This record explains a reporting framework in plain language and is not legal, tax or regulatory advice. Confirm scope, thresholds and submission dates with your competent authority before you file.