The Estado de Información No Financiera (EINF) is the mandatory annual sustainability report for large companies in Spain, regulated by Law 11/2018. Many companies still prepare it every year using spreadsheets, email chains between departments and weeks of manual work. That has changed: artificial intelligence can now automate everything from data collection to the final report narrative. This guide explains what the EINF is, who must file it, how to prepare it, and how to cut the preparation time significantly with AI.
What is the EINF
The Estado de Información No Financiera is the annual report that captures an organisation’s performance on environmental, social, personnel, human rights and anti-corruption matters. In Spain it is regulated by Law 11/2018, which transposes EU Directive 2014/95/EU on the disclosure of non-financial information.
The EINF does not replace the annual accounts: it complements them. While the accounts show financial performance, the EINF shows the company’s impact on the world around it. It is the document that investors, clients, auditors and regulators examine to assess the real sustainability credentials of a business.
The most widely used reference frameworks for structuring the EINF in Spain are:
- GRI (Global Reporting Initiative): the most widely adopted standard globally for sustainability reporting.
- SASB: sector-specific standards for the disclosure of material information.
- EU framework: specific guidelines for public-interest entities.
Who is required to file the EINF in Spain
Under Law 11/2018, companies must prepare the EINF if they meet two of the following three criteria for two consecutive financial years:
| Criterion | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Total assets | More than €20 million |
| Net turnover | More than €40 million |
| Average number of employees | More than 250 |
Public-interest entities whose securities are admitted to trading on regulated EU markets and have more than 500 employees are also required to file.
The report must be submitted as part of the management report alongside the annual accounts, within a maximum of four months from the close of the financial year. It must be approved by the governing body and subjected to verification by an independent auditor.
Key deadline: companies with a calendar-year financial year have until 30 April to submit the EINF together with their annual accounts. Starting the process in January is not early: it is standard practice. Starting in March already carries a risk of non-compliance.
If you are unsure whether your company is required to file, speak to our team: we can help you determine this in a single call.
What the EINF must include
The minimum content required by Law 11/2018 covers five thematic blocks:
1. Environment
- Energy consumption and use of renewable energy
- Greenhouse gas emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3)
- Water use and pollution
- Impact on biodiversity
- Circular economy and waste management
2. Social and personnel matters
- Employment: headcount, contract types, staff turnover
- Gender equality and pay gap
- Health and safety at work
- Training and professional development
3. Human rights
- Due diligence policies across the supply chain
- Measures against forced and child labour
- Grievance mechanisms
4. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery
- Ethical codes of conduct
- Internal control procedures
- Compliance training
5. Society
- Commitments to local communities
- Relations with public authorities
- Responsible tax practices
The four phases of EINF preparation
Preparing the EINF involves four distinct phases. Without automation, each one can consume weeks of work.
Phase 1: Materiality analysis
Before collecting data, the company must determine which topics are material: that is, which have a significant impact on the organisation and which matter to its stakeholders. The materiality analysis defines the scope of the report and prevents time being spent on irrelevant data.
Phase 2: Data collection and processing
This is the most time-consuming phase. It involves gathering information from multiple sources: Human Resources, Environment, Operations, Finance, external suppliers. Data arrives in different formats, at varying levels of quality, and must be validated and consolidated before it can be used.
Phase 3: Drafting and structuring the report
Once data is consolidated, the team drafts the report following the chosen framework (GRI, SASB or another). Each indicator requires an explanatory text, comparative context against previous years and references to internal policies.
Phase 4: Verification and publication
The report must undergo independent verification. The auditor reviews the robustness of the data, the coherence of the methodologies and compliance with the regulations. Once verified, it is published alongside the management report and annual accounts.
How AI transforms EINF preparation
Artificial intelligence is changing each of these four phases. This is not partial automation: with the right tools, the entire process, from raw data to final report paragraph, can be completed in a fraction of the time previously required.
AI for data processing
The biggest bottleneck in the EINF is data collection and cleaning. Sustainability teams spend weeks requesting information from different departments, aligning formats and detecting errors.
Dcycle connects to the company’s data sources (ERP, HR systems, energy meters, waste registers) and automatically consolidates the indicators needed for the EINF. The AI detects outliers, identifies information gaps and suggests how to fill them, either with estimated data in line with GRI methodology or by flagging the relevant team lead directly.
AI for GRI structuring
Once the data is clean and validated, Dcycle’s AI automatically maps it against the applicable GRI standards. Each data point is linked to the corresponding GRI indicator, with the calculation methodology documented and ready for verification.
Dcycle’s EINF module includes pre-configured views for each section of the report: overview, pending tasks, attached files, quality control, data to report, visualisations and final reports. The team does not start from scratch: it inherits a structure validated across hundreds of prior reports.
AI for report drafting
This is where the greatest time savings occur. Dcycle uses AI to generate the explanatory text for each indicator from the loaded data. The model takes the numerical values, compares them with the previous year, identifies the trend and drafts a clear paragraph consistent with the report’s style.
The team reviews and adjusts, but does not start with a blank page. The result is a complete, coherent EINF report ready for verification in the time that previously only covered the first internal review.
Key benefits of Dcycle’s EINF module:
- Organises GRI indicators efficiently
- Generates EINF-compliant, audit-ready reports
- Centralises sustainability KPIs in a single dashboard
- Automatically detects incomplete or inconsistent data
- Enables cross-department collaboration within the same platform
AI for pre-submission internal review
Before sending the report to the external auditor, Dcycle runs an automated quality check: it verifies that all mandatory indicators are covered, that the data is internally consistent, that methodologies are documented and that the format meets the legal requirements. This reduces back-and-forth with the auditor and shortens the verification timeline.
Manual process vs. Dcycle with AI
| Aspect | Manual process | With Dcycle and AI |
|---|---|---|
| Data collection | 4–8 weeks | 1–2 weeks |
| GRI structuring | Manual, error-prone | Automatic with validated mapping |
| Report drafting | Weeks of editorial work | AI-generated draft in hours |
| Quality control | Manual review, no audit trail | Automated audit with change log |
| Cross-department collaboration | Email and spreadsheets | Centralised platform with task assignment |
| Total time | 3–4 months | 4–6 weeks |
“With Dcycle we prepared the EINF in six weeks instead of the four months it used to take us. The sustainability team could focus on analysing the data, not chasing it.”
Vanesa G., sustainability manager
EINF verification: what you need to know
Once the report has been prepared, the company is required to submit it to independent verification. The verifier may be:
- An audit firm (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG or others registered in Spain’s ROAC)
- A specialist sustainability consultancy with verification accreditation
- A certification body accredited by ENAC
The verifier assesses the robustness of the data, the adequacy of the methodologies and compliance with the regulations. Dcycle automatically generates the traceability file that auditors need: data sources, change history, applied methodologies and documentary evidence attached to each indicator.
EINF and CSRD: what changes in the coming years
The EINF is the Spanish precursor to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which significantly extends the scope and rigour of non-financial information requirements across the EU.
The transition from the EINF to the CSRD means moving from GRI standards to the ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards), which are more detailed and require double materiality assessment. Companies that already report under the EINF have an advantage: their data collection processes, governance systems and reporting culture form the foundation on which to build CSRD compliance.
If your company already prepares the EINF, now is the right time to modernise the process to be ready for the CSRD without duplicating effort.
Frequently asked questions about the EINF
What is the difference between the EINF and a sustainability report?
The terms are often used interchangeably, but technically the EINF is the legal designation in Spain for the non-financial information report regulated by Law 11/2018. A “sustainability report” may refer to any voluntary ESG transparency document; the EINF is its mandatory, verified version.
What happens if a company that is required to file the EINF does not do so?
Non-compliance can result in sanctions from supervisory bodies, reputational damage with investors and clients, and problems in financing processes or public tenders where the EINF is a required document. Supervision has intensified in Spain since 2023.
Does the EINF have to follow the GRI standard?
GRI is not legally mandatory, but it is the most widely used framework in Spain and the most accepted by verification auditors. Law 11/2018 requires that the framework used is stated. Other valid options include SASB, the EU framework or a proprietary framework, provided it is justified.
How long does it take to prepare the EINF for the first time?
Without specialised tools, companies preparing the EINF for the first time typically spend between three and five months on the full process. Those using a platform like Dcycle reduce this to four to six weeks, even in the first year.
Is the EINF the same as the CSRD?
No. The EINF is the current Spanish regulation (Law 11/2018). The CSRD is the new European directive that progressively extends and replaces the EINF. Large companies already required to file the EINF will be among the first to comply with the CSRD once Spain completes its transposition. More on the differences between the EINF and the CSRD.
Can AI draft the entire EINF without human review?
AI can generate complete drafts of each section from the loaded data, but human review is essential and legally required: the report must be approved by the governing body and verified by an independent auditor. What changes with AI is that the team reviews and validates rather than drafting from scratch.
Start preparing your EINF with Dcycle
The EINF does not have to bring your organisation to a standstill for months. With Dcycle, the entire process, from materiality analysis to the verified report, is managed in a single platform with AI support at every phase. More than 2,000 European companies already trust Dcycle for their sustainability obligations.