--- title: "VSME Reporting: Basic vs Comprehensive Module Explained" description: VSME is the voluntary reporting standard for non-listed SMEs. Basic and comprehensive module compared block by block, with data sources and effort. image: https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/hubfs/pexels-cluster-images/8580716.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#main-content) [![Fiegenbaum Solutions Logo](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/hubfs/Branding/Fiegenbaum-Solutions_Logo.svg) ![Fiegenbaum Solutions Logo](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/hubfs/Branding/Fiegenbaum-Solutions_Logo.svg)](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/?hsLang=en) - [English](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules) - [Deutsch](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/blog/vsmemodule-erklaert-basic-oder-comprehensive) - Services - [Climate Risk Assessment](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/climate-risk-analysis-for-companies) - [VSME Report](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/vsme-reporting-for-smes) - [ESG Due Diligence VCs & Series A+](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/esg-due-diligence-vcs-series-a-startups) - [Product Carbon Footprint](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/product-carbon-footprint-lifecycle-assessment) - [Corporate Carbon Footprint](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/company-carbon-footprint-methods-tools-best-practice) - Solutions - [Materiality Screening](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/double-materiality-analysis-definition-process-best-practice#fs-screening) - [Atlas](https://atlas.fiegenbaum.solutions/en) - [Load Profile Check](https://atlas.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/lastgang-check) - [Pricing](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/esg-climate-consulting-fixed-prices-carbon-footprint-vsme-due-diligence-climate-risk) - [About me](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/about-me) - [Blog](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog) - [Contact](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/contact) ###### 9 min read # VSME Reporting: Basic vs Comprehensive Module Explained By: [Johannes Fiegenbaum](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/author/johannes-fiegenbaum) on 5/26/25, 10:03 AM · Last updated October 12, 2026 [VSME](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/tag/vsme) [ESG Data & Metrics](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/tag/esg-data-metrics) ![Handwritten checklist on a clipboard next to a laptop](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/hubfs/pexels-cluster-images/8580716.jpg) VSME stands for the voluntary sustainability reporting standard for non-listed micro, small and medium-sized undertakings. It has two modules, a basic one and a comprehensive one, and for most companies the entire first reporting project comes down to picking the right one. That choice is rarely about company size. It is about who asked for the report, what the requester does with it, and which data already exists inside the company. Since 24 September 2026, the VSME has been EU law as the voluntary standard, commonly called the Voluntary Standard (VS), set out in [Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2026/1560/oj/eng). The structure of a basic and a comprehensive module remains. **Table of Contents** 1. [What the VSME is and which companies use it](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#what-the-vsme-is) 2. [How the VSME relates to CSRD, ESRS and the omnibus changes](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#vsme-csrd-esrs-omnibus) 3. [Basic vs comprehensive: the two modules side by side](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#basic-vs-comprehensive) 4. [What the report is actually used for: customers, banks, tenders](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#what-the-report-is-used-for) 5. [Producing the first report: sequence, data sources, effort](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#producing-the-first-report) 6. [Frequently asked questions](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-sustainability-reporting-basic-vs-comprehensive-modules#frequently-asked-questions) ## What the VSME is and which companies use it The VSME is [EFRAG](https://www.efrag.org/)'s voluntary reporting standard for small and medium-sized enterprises that are not listed on a regulated market, from micro entities upward. Nothing in it is compulsory. No company is legally required to publish a VSME report, and no authority sanctions one that does not. In July 2026 the [European Commission](https://finance.ec.europa.eu/) adopted it as the official voluntary standard by delegated act, which gives it a standing that no market-driven questionnaire template has. The companies that end up using it are almost never doing so out of enthusiasm for reporting. A metal parts supplier with 120 employees receives an ESG questionnaire from a customer that reports under CSRD itself, or a bank asks for emissions figures when a credit line comes up for renewal. The questionnaire arrives with fifty fields in a customer-specific layout. The VSME report answers it once, in a form the next customer accepts as well. For the fuller picture of what the standard covers and who it was built for, see [this introduction to the VSME standard](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/sustainability-reporting-vsme-standard-smes?hsLang=en). ## How the VSME relates to CSRD, ESRS and the omnibus changes The full [ESRS](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/a-complete-overview-of-esrs-standards-key-reporting-guidelines-for-corporate-sustainability-under-csrd?hsLang=en) apply to companies inside the CSRD scope. After the omnibus revision that scope is far smaller than originally planned: reporting is limited to companies above 1,000 employees and 450 million euro net turnover, for financial years starting in 2027. That did not remove the data requests, it moved them. Large reporters still need value chain data and still ask suppliers for it. What changed is that the same package caps how much they may ask. An in-scope company may not demand more sustainability information from an SME supplier than the voluntary standard contains, and that cap applies from financial year 2027 onwards. For a supplier this turns the VSME into a defensive document: it answers the request and draws a line around it. | Dimension | CSRD / ESRS | VSME | | --- | --- | --- | | **Who reports** | Companies above the omnibus thresholds | Any non-listed SME, on its own decision | | **What is covered** | Twelve standards, environment, social and governance in full | Eleven basic disclosures, nine optional ones on top | | **Assurance** | Limited assurance by an auditor | None required | ## Basic vs comprehensive: the two modules side by side The basic module runs from B1 to B11 and is designed to be answerable from records a company already keeps. The comprehensive module adds C1 to C9 on top: strategy, targets, climate risk and a set of workforce and governance disclosures that mostly do not exist as data yet and have to be produced. | Disclosure block | Where the data sits | Effort in my projects | | --- | --- | --- | | **B1, B2** basis of preparation, practices and policies | Management interview, existing certificates | Half a day | | **B3** energy and greenhouse gas emissions | Electricity and gas invoices, fuel cards, fleet list | Two to three days, the heaviest basic block | | **B4 to B6** pollution, biodiversity, water | Permits, site addresses, water bills | Half a day, often a nil answer | | **B7** resource use, circular economy, waste | Waste disposal invoices | One day | | **B8 to B11** workforce, health and safety, pay, training, fines | HRIS headcount, payroll, accident log, training records | One to two days | | **C1, C2** business model and transition practices | Nowhere yet, has to be written | Several workshops | | **C3, C4** reduction targets and climate risk | Needs a target decision and a [climate risk analysis](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/esrs-e1-implementation-guide-climate-reporting-requirements?hsLang=en) | The single largest item | | **C5 to C7** further workforce data and human rights | Payroll detail, supplier due diligence | Two to four days | | **C8, C9** excluded sectors and gender diversity in governance | Revenue split, list of directors | Half a day | The basic module is enough when the report exists to answer customer questionnaires, when nobody has asked for reduction targets in writing, and when this is the first reporting year. Go comprehensive when a bank has tied loan conditions to targets, when a tender asks for a transition plan, or when the company expects to grow into CSRD scope. A [report template](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/vsme-report-template-efrag-standard-2026?hsLang=en) helps with either one. ## What the report is actually used for: customers, banks, tenders Most of my clients are mid-market companies in trade and industry, and the requester determines the module far more reliably than any decision matrix. Customer questionnaires are satisfied by the basic module in nearly every case, and the structure behind them is close to what I describe in [this guide to ESG questionnaires](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-esg-questionnaires-understanding-the-relevance-components-and-data-collection-for-companies?hsLang=en). What procurement wants is comparable energy, emissions and workforce figures, and the [value chain cap](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/eu-value-chain-cap-five-gaps-voluntary-standard?hsLang=en) gives the supplier an argument for stopping there. Banks are different: sustainability-linked conditions need a target and a trajectory, which is C3, so a company negotiating a margin step will not get through on the basic module. Public tenders vary the most, and their scoring criteria are published, so read those before deciding anything. My position on this: the voluntariness is a formality. A supplier inside the value chain of a reporting corporation, or a company whose credit line is up for renewal, has no real choice. Voluntary means no state penalty, not no pressure. ## Producing the first report: sequence, data sources, effort The order of work that has held up in practice: fix the reporting period and the module first, then collect the basic module data before writing anything, then close the gaps that surface. Companies that draft first and collect afterwards rewrite the report twice. The data sources needed for the basic module are short enough to list: - Electricity, gas and district heating invoices for the full reporting year - Fuel card statements and the vehicle list - HRIS headcount by contract type, plus payroll for pay and collective bargaining coverage - Accident log and training records - Waste disposal invoices by waste stream One lesson from the first VSME report I delivered with an SME: the report itself was the least valuable output. What mattered were the analyses it made possible afterwards, electricity cost structure, physical climate risk at the main site, and a make-or-buy decision on energy that had been argued about for years without numbers. Treat the VSME as an entry point into your own data, not as the endpoint of a compliance exercise. If a customer, bank or tender already has a module decision waiting on your desk, [get in touch](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/contact?hsLang=en) and I will help you work out which module actually fits. ## Frequently asked questions What does VSME stand for? Voluntary sustainability reporting standard for non-listed micro, small and medium-sized undertakings, published by EFRAG. Is the VSME mandatory, and for whom? For no one. It carries no legal obligation and no penalty. The pressure comes from customers, banks and tenders, not from a supervisory authority. Does a VSME report need external assurance? No, the standard does not require it. What requesters do check is whether the figures are traceable to an invoice or a payroll export. Can you switch from the basic to the comprehensive module mid-year? Technically yes, since the modules build on each other. It is still better to switch at the start of a reporting year, because a mid-year change breaks the year-on-year comparison in exactly the block, energy and emissions, where it matters most. What is the difference between the VSME and the Voluntary Standard (VS)? The Voluntary Standard is the form the VSME has taken since 24 September 2026: the Commission adopted it as [Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2026/1560/oj/eng). It builds on the VSME Recommendation (EU) 2025/1710 and keeps the basic and comprehensive modules; the Recommendation ceased to have legal effect when the regulation entered into force. What is new is its role as the value chain cap: from financial year 2027, customers in CSRD scope may only request the datapoints listed in Annex II from companies with up to 1,000 employees for their own report. More in my article on the [value chain cap](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/blog/eu-value-chain-cap-five-gaps-voluntary-standard?hsLang=en). Next step Turn climate risk or ESG data into a decision? In a 30-minute intro call we map where your biggest lever is, with no obligation. [Book an intro call](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/contact?hsLang=en) ![Johannes Fiegenbaum](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/hubfs/Johannes_07-modified.png) ### Johannes Fiegenbaum ESG and sustainability consultant based in Hamburg, specialised in VSME reporting, carbon accounting and climate risk analysis. Works with mid-sized companies, investors and financial institutions, and developed the VSME reporting software VSEasy together with clients. [More about](https://www.fiegenbaum.solutions/en/about-me?hsLang=en) Related articles ## You may also like ### [VSME VSME and the EU Voluntary Standard (VS): A Guide for SMEs A VSME report is what a small or medium-sized company hands over when a large customer or a bank asks for sustainability data. This page covers what such a report contains, ... 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