Porsche 2008 Annual Report Download - page 150

To our shareholders The Company
148
 Basis of presentation
Porsche Automobil Holding SE (“Porsche SE”) is a European Company (Societas Europaea) and is
headquartered at Porscheplatz 1 in 70435 Stuttgart, Germany. The business objective of Porsche
SE is the management of companies and the administration of interests in companies, in particular
companies active in the following business fields: the development, design, manufacture and
distribution of vehicles and engines of all kinds and other technical products as well as of parts
and components thereof. The company may engage in all kinds of business and take all measures
that are related to the business purpose or that it deems directly or indirectly useful for achieving
that purpose. This also includes financial services, consisting of financing, banking, leasing and
insurance services particularly for customers and dealers.
The consolidated financial statements of Porsche SE as of 31 July 2009 were prepared in accor-
dance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as endorsed by the European Union.
The standards published by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), London, that are
applicable as of the balance sheet date as well as the interpretations issued by the International
Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) that are valid for the fiscal year have been
taken into account. The requirements of the standards and interpretations applied were satisfied in
full. The financial statements thus give a true and fair view of the net assets, financial position and
results of operations and cash flows of the Porsche group.
These consolidated financial statements comply with the requirements of Sec. 315a HGB [“Han-
delsgesetzbuch”: German Commercial Code]. It represents the legal basis for group accounting
according to international financial reporting standards in Germany in conjunction with EC Directive
No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the adoption of
international financial reporting standards.
The Porsche group’s (Porsche SE and its subsidiaries) fiscal year is the period from 1 August of a
year until 31 July of the following year. The group’s presentation currency is the euro. Unless other-
wise stated, all figures in the notes are presented in millions of euro (€million). In some instances,
the composition of the individual items of the financial statements has been changed. The com-
parative information has been restated accordingly. The adjustments have been marked as such
and explained. To improve comparability with previous consolidated financial statements, we have
expanded the explanations on the assets and liabilities and on the income statement of the
Porsche group to include the amounts which would have resulted had the Volkswagen subgroup
(Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, and its subsidiaries) (“Porsche without VW”) not been included. The
amounts presented for comparison do not include effects arising from consolidation.
The income statement has been prepared using the nature of expense method.
The consolidated financial statements and group management report of Porsche SE were released
to the supervisory board by the executive board by resolution dated 19 October 2009.
The executive board of Porsche SE assumes that the basic agreement – which amongst other
things requires certification by a notary to take effect – to be finalized in particular with Volks-
wagen AG and the ordinary shareholders of Porsche SE as well as the implementation of the indi-
vidual steps for the merger of Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG will be effected in a timely manner
as a prerequisite for achieving a significantly improved liquidity situation. The finalization of the
basic agreement is also a prerequisite for the successful completion of current negotiations with
the lending banks. If the steps involved in the merger of the two companies and thus the debt relief
of Porsche SE do not take place as planned, this could once again lead Porsche SE into a critical
Notes to the consolidated financial statements of the Porsche group
as of 31 July 2009