Mercedes 2012 Annual Report Download - page 188

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7 | Consolidated Financial Statements | Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
1. Significant accounting policies
General information
The consolidated financial statements of Daimler AG and its
subsidiaries (“Daimler” or “the Group”) have been prepared
in accordance with Section 315a of the German Commercial
Code (HGB) and comply with the International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union.
Daimler AG is a stock corporation organized under the laws
of the Federal Republic of Germany. The company is entered
in the Commercial Register of the Stuttgart District Court
under No. HRB 19360 and its registered office is located at
Mercedesstraße 137, 70327 Stuttgart, Germany.
The consolidated financial statements of Daimler AG are
presented in euros (€). Unless otherwise stated, all amounts
are stated in millions of euros. All figures shown are rounded
in accordance with standard business rounding principles.
The Board of Management authorized the consolidated
financial statements for publication on February 21, 2013.
Basis of preparation
Applied IFRSs. The accounting policies applied in the consoli-
dated financial statements comply with the IFRSs required
to be applied as of December 31, 2012. Initial application
of accounting policies in 2012 did not result in any material
effects on the consolidated financial statements.
IFRSs issued and EU endorsed but not yet adopted. In
May 2011, the IASB issued three new standards that provide
guidance with respect to accounting for investments of the
reporting entity in other entities. IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial
Statements establishes a single consolidation model based
on control that applies to all entities irrespective of the type of
controlled entity. IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements provides new
guidance on accounting for joint arrangements. In the future,
it has to be decided whether a joint operation or a joint venture
exists. IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities pro-
vides guidance on disclosure requirements for interests in other
entities by combining existing disclosure requirements from
several standards in one comprehensive disclosure standard.
Daimler will apply the new consolidation standards as of
the mandatory effective date for EU IFRS-users as of January 1,
2014 on a retrospective basis and will therefore not make use
of the possibility of earlier application. Daimler is currently
in the process of determining the effects of these new standards
on the Group’s consolidated financial statements.
In May 2011, the IASB also published IFRS 13 Fair Value
Measurement. The new standard replaces the fair value measure-
ment rules contained in individual IFRSs and combines them
in one standard for a single source of fair value measurement
guidance. IFRS 13 is effective for annual periods beginning
on or after January 1, 2013. Daimler will not make use of the
possibility of earlier application of this standard. As a result
of the application of IFRS 13, there will presumably be only minor
effects on the consolidated financial statements.
In June 2011, the IASB issued an amendment to IAS 19
Employee Benefits. The amendment removes the corridor
method. Actuarial gains and losses consequently have an
immediate effect on the consolidated statement of financial
position and have to be recognized exclusively in other com-
prehensive income/loss. In addition, currently at the beginning
of the accounting period, the expected return on plan assets
is determined based on the Company’s expectations regarding
the performance of the investment portfolio. With application
of the revised IAS 19, only one return on plan assets equal
to the discount rate for pension obligations is allowed at begin-
ning of period. The amended standard generally has to be
applied retrospectively with a few exceptions in financial state-
ments for EU IFRS-users for annual periods beginning on
or after January 1, 2013. Daimler will apply the amendments
to IAS 19 as of January 1, 2013. Due to the mandatory retro-
spective application, the net profit of the year 2012 will increase
by the amount of €0.1 billion. Another major effect of the
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements