DHL 2009 Annual Report Download - page 148

NOTES
TO THE CONSOLIDATED
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
OF DEUTSCHE POST AG
BASIS OF PREPARATION
 Basis of accounting
As a listed company, Deutsche Post  prepared its consoli-
dated  nancial statements in accordance with the International
Financial Reporting Standards  as adopted by the European
Union  and the provisions of commercial law to be addition-
ally applied in accordance with Section  a  of the Handels-
gesetzbuch ( – German commercial code).  e  nancial state-
ments represent an annual  nancial report within the meaning of
the Transparenzrichtlinie-Umsetzungsgesetz ( – Transparency
directive implementing act) (Section  v of the Wertpapierhan-
delsgesetz (WpHG – German securities trading act)) dated  Janu-
ary .
 e requirements of the Standards applied have been satis ed
in full, and the consolidated  nancial statements therefore provide
a true and fair view of the Group’s net assets,  nancial position and
results of operations.
 e consolidated  nancial statements consist of the income
statement and the statement of comprehensive income, the balance
sheet, the cash  ow statement, the statement of changes in equity
and the Notes. In order to improve the clarity of presentation, vari-
ous items in the balance sheet and in the income statement have
been combined.  ese items are disclosed and explained separately
in the Notes.  e income statement has been classi ed in accord-
ance with the nature of expense method.
 e accounting policies, as well as the explanations and dis-
closures in the Notes to the  consolidated  nancial statements
for  nancial year , are generally based on the same accounting
policies used in the  consolidated  nancial statements. Excep-
tions to this are the changes in international  nancial reporting
under the  described in Note  that have been required to be
applied by the Group since  January  and the adjustment of
prior-period amounts cited in Note .  e accounting policies are
explained in Note .
 e  nancial year of Deutsche Post  and its consolidated
subsidiaries is the calendar year. Deutsche Post , whose regis-
tered o ce is in Bonn, Germany, is entered in the commercial reg-
ister of Bonn Local Court.
 ese consolidated  nancial statements were authorised for is-
sue by a resolution of the Board of Management of Deutsche Post 
dated  February .
 e consolidated  nancial statements are prepared in euros
. Unless otherwise stated, all amounts are given in millions of
euros ( million,  m).
 Consolidated group
In addition to Deutsche Post , the consolidated  nancial
statements for the period ended  December  include all Ger-
man and foreign companies in which Deutsche Post  directly or
indirectly holds a majority of voting rights, or whose activities it can
control in some other way.  e companies are consolidated from
the date on which the Group is able to exercise control.
 e companies listed in the table below are consolidated in
addition to the parent company Deutsche Post .
Consolidated Group
2008 2009
Number of fully consolidated companies (subsidiaries)
German 106 79
Foreign 854 791
Number of proportionately consolidated joint ventures
German 1 1
Foreign 18 18
Number of companies accounted for
using the equity method (associates)
German 3 29
Foreign 12 23
 e changes in the consolidated group are due among other
things to the deconsolidation of Deutsche Postbank  and its sub-
sidiaries at the end of February  and their inclusion in the con-
solidated  nancial statements as associates as from March .
 e complete list of the Group’s shareholdings in accordance
with Section   Nos.  to  and  of the  is to be found
in Note .
Purchase price allocation
As a result of contractual arrangements that took e ect at
the end of October , the  company Polar Air Cargo World-
wide, Inc. (Polar Air) has been fully consolidated since Novem-
ber . Prior to that date, Polar Air Cargo was included in the
consolidated  nancial statements as an associate.  e preliminary
purchase price allocation for this acquisition was presented in the
consolidated  nancial statements for the year ended  Decem-
ber , as not all the information required for  nal purchase
price allocation was available at that time.  is resulted in provi-
sional goodwill of   million. Final purchase price allocation was
performed as at  September  and did not result in any ad-
justments compared with the preliminary purchase price allocation
that was previously published.
Deutsche Post DHL Annual Report 
Consolidated Financial Statements
Notes
Basis of preparation
131