DHL 2014 Annual Report Download - page 144

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF
DEUTSCHE POST AG
BASIS OF PREPARATION
Deutsche Post  Group is a global mail and logistics group. e
Deutsche Post and  corporate brands represent a portfolio of
logistics  and communication (Deutsche Post) services. e
nancial year of Deutsche Post  and its consolidated subsidiaries
is the calendar year. Deutsche Post , whose registered oce is in
Bonn, Germany, is entered in the commercial register of the Bonn
Local Court.
 Basis of accounting
As a listed company, Deutsche Post  prepared its consolidated
nancial statements in accordance with the International Financial
Reporting Standards ( s), as adopted by the European Union
, and the provisions of commercial law to be additionally
applied in accordance with section  a  of the Handelsgesetz-
buch ( – German Commercial Code).
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  s described in Note  that have been required
to be applied by the Group since  January . e accounting
policies are explained in Note .
ese consolidated nancial statements were authorised for
issue 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
e consolidated group includes all companies controlled by
Deutsche Post . Control exists if Deutsche Post  has decision-
making powers, is exposed to, and has rights to, variable returns,
and is able to use its decision-making powers to aect the amount
of the variable returns.
e Group companies are consolidated from the date on
which Deutsche Post  Group is able to exer cise control.
When Deutsche Post  Group holds less than the majority
of voting rights, other contractual arrangements may result in the
Group controlling the investee.
 Sinotrans International Air Courier Ltd. (Sinotrans),
China, is a signicant company that has been consolidated despite
Deutsche Post  Group not having a majority of voting rights.
Sinotrans provides domestic and international express delivery
and transport services and has been assigned to the Express seg-
ment. e company is fully inte grated into the global  network
and operates exclusively for Deutsche Post  Group. Due to the
arrangements in the Network Agreement,  is able to prevail
in decisions concerning Sinotrans’ relevant activities. Sinotrans
has therefore been consolidated fully although Deutsche Post 
Group holds no more than   of the company’s share capital.
e complete list of the Group’s shareholdings in accordance
with section   nos.  to  and section   of the  can be
accessed online at www.dpdhl.com/en/investors.html.
Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
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