Unilever 2013 Annual Report Download - page 141

OWN SHARES HELD
Own shares held by NV are accounted for in accordance withDutch
law and UK AAP, namely FRS 25 ‘Fnancal Instruments
Presentaton’ All dfferences between the purchase prce of the
shares held to satsfy optons granted and the proceeds receved
for the shares, whether on exercse or lapse, are charged to other
reserves In respect to opton plans, dsclosures are gven n note
4 to the consoldated accounts on pages 104 and 105
RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Unlever NV has accounted for pensons and smlar benefts
under the Unted Kngdom Fnancal Reportng Standard 17
‘Retrement benefts’ (FRS 17) The operatng and fnancng costs
of defned beneft plans are recognsed separately n the proft
andloss account servce costs are systematcally spread over
theservce lves of employees, and fnancng costs are recognsed
n the perods n whch they arse Varatons from expected costs,
arsng from the experence of the plans or changes nactuaral
assumptons, are recognsed mmedately n equty The costs of
ndvdual events such as past servce beneft enhancements,
settlements and curtalments arerecognsed mmedately n the
proft and loss account The labltesand, where applcable, the
assets of defned beneft plans arerecognsed at far value n the
balance sheet The charges to the proft and loss account for
defned contrbuton plans are NV contrbutons payable and
theassets of such plans are not ncluded nNV’s balancesheet
DIVIDENDS
Under Fnancal Reportng Standard 21 ‘Events after the Balance
Sheet Date’ (FRS 21), proposed dvdends do not meet the
defnton of a lablty untl such tme as they have been approved
by shareholders at the Annual eneral Meetng Therefore, we do
not recognse a lablty n any perod for dvdends that have been
proposed but wll not be approved untl after the balance sheet
date Ths holds for external dvdends as well as ntra-group
dvdends pad to the parent company
TAXATION
Unlever NV, together wth certan of ts subsdares, s part of
atax groupng for Dutch corporate ncome tax purposes, Unlever
NV s the head of the fscal unty The members ofthe fscal entty
are ontly and severally lable forany taxes payable by the Dutch
tax groupng
PROVISIONS
Provsons are recognsed where a legal or constructve oblgaton
exsts at the balance sheet date, as a result of a past event, where
the amount of the oblgaton can be relably estmated and where
the outflow of economc beneft s probable Provsons are
measured on the bass of the best estmate of the amounts
requred to settle the oblgatons at the balance sheet date Unless
ndcated otherwse, provsons are stated at the face value of the
expendture expected to be requred to settle the oblgatons
INTANGIBLE ASSETS
 mllon
2013
 mllon
2012
1 January 1,010 –
Addtons(a) 398 1,048
Amortsaton (97) (38)
31 December 1,311 1,010
(a) The ncrease n ntangble assets relates to an nternal transfer of the
economc ownershp of trademark rghts
AOUNTING INFORMATION AND POLICIES
BASIS OF PREPARATION
The company accounts of Unlever NV comply n all materal
respects wth legslaton n the Netherlands As allowed by Artcle
3621 of Book2 of the vl ode n the Netherlands, the company
accounts are prepared n accordance wth Unted Kngdom
accountng standards, unless such standards conflct wth the
vl ode n the Netherlands whch would n such case preval
The accounts are prepared under the hstorcal cost conventon
unless otherwse ndcated, n accordance wth theaccountng
polces set out below whch havebeen consstentlyappled
ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The prncpal accountng polces are as follows
INTANIBLE ASSETS
Intangble assets are amortsed n the proft and loss account over
ther expected useful lves of up to a maxmum of 20 years These
assets are held at cost less accumulated amortsaton They are
subect to revew for mparment n accordance wth Unted
Kngdom Fnancal Reportng Standard 11 ‘Imparment of Fxed
Assets and oodwll’ (FRS 11) Any mparment s charged to the
proft and loss account as t arses
INVESTMENTS IN SUBSIDIARIES
Shares n group companes are stated at cost less any amounts
wrtten off to reflect a permanent mparment Any mparment
scharged tothe proft and loss account as t arses In
accordance wth Artcle 3855 of Book 2 of the vl ode n the
Netherlands, Unlever NV shares held by Unlever NV
subsdares are deducted from the carryng value of those
subsdares Ths dffers from the accountng treatment under
UKAAP, whchwould requre these amounts to bencluded
wthn nvestments n subsdares
FINANIAL INSTRUMENTS
NV accountng polces under Unted Kngdom generallyaccepted
accountng prncples (UK AAP) namely FRS 25 ‘Fnancal
Instruments Presentaton’, FRS 26 ‘Fnancal Instruments
Measurement’ and FRS 29 ‘Fnancal Instruments Dsclosures’
are thesame as the Unlever roup’s accountng polces under
Internatonal Fnancal Reportng Standards (IFRS) namely IAS 32
‘Fnancal Instruments Presentaton’, IAS 39 ‘Fnancal
Instruments Recognton and Measurement’ and IFRS 7
‘Fnancal Instruments Dsclosures’ The polces are set out
under the headng ‘aptal and fundng’ n note 15 to the
consoldated accounts on pages 115 to119 NV s takng the
exempton for not provdng all the fnancal nstruments
dsclosures, because IFRS 7 dsclosures are gven n note 15 to
note 18to the consoldated accounts on pages 115 to 129
DEFERRED TAXATION
Full provson s made for deferred taxaton on all sgnfcant
tmng dfferences arsng from the recognton of tems for
taxaton purposes n dfferent perods from those n whch they
are ncluded n NV accounts Full provson s made at the rates of
tax prevalng at the year end unless future rates have been
enacted or substantvely enacted Deferred tax assets and
labltes have not been dscounted
138 Unlever Annual Report and Accounts 2013Fnancal statements
NOTES TO THE OMPANY AOUNTS
UNILEVER NV