Accounting Principles and Methods
The WACKER Group (WACKER) is a global chemical company with core activities in the fields of silicone and polymer chemistry, specialty and fine chemistry, and polysilicon production. The activities of the individual segments are explained in the management report. The Group’s parent company, Wacker Chemie AG, is a listed company under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany and headquartered in Munich, Germany (entered in Munich’s commercial register under HRB 159705). Its registered office is at Hanns-Seidel-Platz 4, 81737 Munich, Germany.
The consolidated financial statements, the combined management report and any other documents subject to disclosure requirements are submitted to the publisher of the German Federal Gazette and published on WACKER’s website. KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft audited the consolidated financial statements and the combined management report of Wacker Chemie AG and issued an unqualified audit opinion for them.
Wacker Chemie AG and its subsidiaries are included in the consolidated financial statements of Dr. Alexander Wacker Familiengesellschaft mbH, Munich. The consolidated financial statements of Dr. Alexander Wacker Familiengesellschaft, Munich, are disclosed to the publisher of the German Federal Gazette.
The Executive Board and Supervisory Board of Wacker Chemie AG have submitted the declaration concerning the German Corporate Governance Code required by Section 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) and made it accessible to the public on WACKER’s website.
Wacker Chemie AG’s consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as applicable in the European Union (EU), and the supplementary rules in Section 315e (1) of the German Commercial Code (HGB). The interpretations of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) that were applicable in the year under review have also been implemented.
The fiscal year corresponds to the calendar year. Assets and liabilities are reported in the statement of financial position in line with their maturities. The Group classifies assets and liabilities as current if it expects to realize or settle them within 12 months of the reporting date. The statement of income is prepared using the cost-of-sales method. To improve the clarity of presentation, various items in the statement of income and in the statement of financial position have been combined. These items are shown and explained separately in the Notes.
The Group’s functional currency is the euro. Unless stated otherwise, all amounts are shown in millions of euros (€ million). There may be slight deviations in the additions as all amounts have been rounded up to the nearest whole number after the decimal point.
Material events occurring after the reporting date are described in detail in Note 24. The Executive Board of Wacker Chemie AG approved the consolidated financial statements on March 5, 2019. They will be submitted to the Supervisory Board for approval at its meeting on March 13, 2019.