annual Report 2009 - STRATEC Biomedical AG

The most important forward-looking assumptions and major sources of uncertainty concerning estimates at the balance
sheet date, which involve a substantial risk of significant adjustments being required in the assets and liabilities thereby
recognized within the coming financial year, are presented below:
Discretionary decisions
1. Recognition of internally generated intangible assets for development expenses pursuant to IAS 38
Reference is made to the comments in Section II “Principles of the consolidated financial statements, 4. Accounting
and valuation principles / Other intangible assets”.
2. Methodology for determining revenue recognition using the percentage of completion method (POC)
for order-related services pursuant to IAS 11
stRATEC has to reach a discretionary decision for each individual order whether it represents a construction contract
requiring revenue recognition in line with its percentage of completion using the POC method pursuant to IAS 11 or a
sale of goods requiring revenue recognition only once all significant ownership risks have been transferred to customers
pursuant to IAS 18. In terms of the production of analyzer systems, STRATEC AG assumes that its business model and
the structure of individual contracts conform to IAS 11.3 except for cases where the contracts clearly involve sales of
merchandise or maintenance services. In terms of customer-specific development services, STRATEC AG assumes
that the requirements governing POC revenue recognition are currently not met.
3. Allocation of goodwill to cash generating units (CGUs) for the purpose of impairment tests pursuant to IAS 36
the allocation of the goodwill acquired upon the acquisition of Sanguin International Ltd., UK, to the “Sanguin Group”
cash generating unit and of the goodwill acquired upon the acquisition of Invitek Gesellschaft für Biotechnik & Biodesign
mbH, Berlin, to the “Automated Nucleic Acid Purification Applications” cash generating unit in both cases required
substantial discretionary assessments to be made.
Uncertainties involved in estimates
1. Impairment tests on goodwill and current development projects
The carrying amounts of goodwill and the principal assumptions underlying the impairment test performed as of the
balance sheet date are presented in Section II “Principles of the consolidated financial statements”. Due to the large
number of variables involved, this test requires a difficult and highly subjective discretionary decision to be made.
the same applies for the impairment test performed as of the balance sheet date on the current development projects
acquired with Invitek Gesellschaft für Biotechnik & Biodesign mbH, Berlin.
the individual assumptions underlying the impairment tests are presented in Section II “Principles of the consolidated
financial statements / 4. Accounting and valuation principles”. The sensitivity analyses performed in the context of
goodwill impairment tests have been based on an assumed reduction in future cash flows and an assumed increase
in weighted capital costs by 10 % in each case, as such variables would seem to be possible in the longer term. On
this basis, we reached the conclusion that there were no indications of potential impairment in the goodwill at any
cash generating unit. As in the previous year, the annual impairment test performed on cash generating units in the
year under report did not result in the recognition of any impairment losses.
2. Measurement of pension provisions using the projected unit credit method, taking due account of plan assets,
and measurement of the defined benefit obligation pursuant to IAS 19.
The measurement of the net defined benefit obligation requires forward-looking estimates to be made, especially
when calculating interest rates and the development in the return on plan assets. Moreover, the measurement refers
to biometrical assumptions based on past statistical values. The key assumptions have been subject to a sensitivity
analysis presented in Section III “Disclosures relating to the balance sheet / (14) Provisions for pensions”.
58 stratec Annual Report 2009