The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 7,“Cash flow statements”In drawing up its cash flow statement, <strong>Skanska</strong> applies the indirect method in compliancewith the recommendation. Aside from cash and bank balances, liquid assetsare to include short-term investments whose transformation into bank balancesmay occur in an amount that is mainly known in advance. Short-term investmentswith maturities of less than three months are regarded as liquid assets. Liquid assetsthat are subject to restrictions are reported either as current receivables or as longtermreceivables.In addition to the cash flow statement prepared in compliance with the recommendation,this <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> presents an operating cash flow statement thatdoes not conform with the structure specified in the above recommendation. Theoperating cash flow statement was prepared on the basis of the operations that thevarious business streams carry out.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 5,“Accounting for changes in accounting principles”When changing an accounting principle, comparative figures are recalculated unlessotherwise prescribed in the applicable recommendation from the Swedish FinancialAccounting Standards Council. If the change in principle affects shareholders’ equity,this is reported on a separate line in the statement of changes in shareholders’ equity.Note 2 provides information about the effects of changes in accounting principles.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 18,“Earnings per share”Net profit per share is reported directly below the consolidated income statement.<strong>Skanska</strong> has not issued preference shares, so earnings do not need to be adjustedfor dividends on such shares. Nor are there ordinary shares that may potentially giverise to dilution effects, for example due to warrants or convertible debentures.If the number of shares changes during the year, <strong>Skanska</strong> calculates a weightedaverage of the number of shares outstanding during the period.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 23,“Related party disclosure”According to the recommendation, information must be provided about transactionsand agreements with related companies and physical persons. In the consolidatedfinancial statements, intra-Group transactions fall outside this reporting requirement.If the Parent Company’s annual accounts are submitted at the same time as the consolidatedannual accounts, the recommendation implies no expansion of the ParentCompany’s reporting beyond what the <strong>Annual</strong> Accounts Act specifies. Since associatedcompanies and joint ventures are reported according to the equity method,the recommendation implies an expanded reporting requirement on the Group’stransactions with these companies, which is presented in Note 37.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 24,“Investment property”Investment property is defined in this recommendation as property held to generaterental income or capital appreciation. Properties that are used in a company’s ownoperations (business properties) are not dealt with in this recommendation. Propertiesthat are intended to be divested are covered by the Swedish Financial AccountingStandards Council’s Recommendation No. 2:02, “Inventories.” The recommendationon investment properties is therefore not applicable to the Group’s property holdings.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 25,“Segment reporting – lines of business and geographic areas”For reporting in compliance with this recommendation, the Group’s operations havebeen divided into a primary segment (business streams) and a secondary segment(markets).The business streams are Construction and Services, Commercial Project Development,Residential Project Development and BOT. This division should be viewed inlight of differences in both risks and the length of the operating cycle. Operationsthat do not belong to these business streams are included among “Other operations,elimination of internal transactions.”The markets are Sweden, the Nordic countries excluding Sweden, Europe excludingthe Nordic countries, the United States and, finally, other markets. The geographicdivision in the secondary segment reflects the division of <strong>Skanska</strong>’s business intodifferent home markets.In transactions between business streams, pricing occurs on market terms.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 26,“Events after the balance sheet date”Events after the balance sheet date may, in certain cases, confirm a situation thatexisted on the balance sheet date. According to the recommendation, such an eventshall be taken into account when financial reports are prepared. Information is providedabout other events after the balance sheet date that occur before the signingof the financial report if its omission would affect the ability of a reader to make acorrect assessment and a sound decision.As stated earlier, divestment of a property is normally reported as income duringthe period when a binding agreement is signed, even if necessary regulatoryapprovals have not yet been received. Contractual terms that in some way are at thedisposition of the counterparty may cause the reporting of income to be postponedwhile waiting for the terms to be fulfilled.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 27,“Financial instruments: Disclosure and classification”The recommendation deals with classification of financial instruments and whatinformation must be provided. However, the recommendation does not deal withvaluation of financial instruments or when they are to be included in the balancesheet for the first time and when they are no longer to be reported there. The rulesstated in the recommendation for classification of financial instruments have notcaused any change in the principles applied previously. Information in compliancewith the recommendation is provided in Note 4.Treated as a financial instrument is any form of agreement that gives rise to afinancial asset in a company and a financial liability or own equity instrument inanother company. Financial instruments are any asset in the form of cash, a contractualright to receive cash or other financial asset from another company, contractualright to exchange financial instruments with another company on terms that mayprove favorable or “own equity instruments” issued by another company. A financialliability is any liability that involves a contractual obligation to pay cash to anothercompany or to exchange financial instruments with another company on terms thatmay prove unfavorable.Offsetting of financial assets and financial liabilities shall occur when a companyhas a legal right to offset items against each other and intends to settle these itemswith a net amount or, at the same time, divest the asset and settle the liability.The recommendation prescribes, among other things, that a company shall provideinformation on the fair value of each class of financial asset and financial liability ifthis is feasible.Information in compliance with the recommendation is provided in Note 4.The obligations that the synthetic option programs may cause in case of shareprice appreciation have been hedged with the aid of equity swaps related to sharesin <strong>Skanska</strong> AB. The difference between the market price on the balance sheet dateand the initial prices of the swap agreement is reported directly against shareholders’equity.The Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council’s Recommendation No. 28,“Accounting for government grants and disclosure of government assistance”“Government assistance” refers to measures by the central government aimed atproviding an economic advantage that is limited to one company or a category ofcompanies that fulfill certain criteria. Government grants are assistance from thecentral government in the form of transfers of resources to a company in exchangefor the company’s fulfillment or future fulfillment of certain conditions concerningits operations.The Group works in fields where government assistance is normally nonexistentor only on an insignificant scale. The information required in compliance with therecommendation does not include central government assistance to customers.Current assetsCurrent assets other than inventories are also valued according to the lower valueprinciple, which means that acquisition value or fair value, whichever is higher, isused as reported value. Valuation occurs on an item by item basis.Financial fixed assetsFinancial fixed assets other than holdings in associated companies and joint venturesare normally reported at acquisition value. A writedown occurs if fair value is belowacquisition value.In the Parent Company financial statements, holdings in Group companies arereported at acquisition value.48 Notes, including accounting and valuation principles – <strong>Skanska</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2003</strong>
LiabilitiesLiabilities are normally reported at their nominal value. Liabilities that, at the timean agreement is signed, carry lower interest than normally paid are reported, whenthe book value of the liability is stated, at the present value of future payments ifthe difference compared to nominal value is significant. Financial liabilities whoseacquisition value deviates from nominal value are reported at accrued acquisitioncost, in which a premium or discount is accrued over the life of the liability.Swedish <strong>Annual</strong> Accounts ActThe <strong>Annual</strong> Accounts Act stipulates requirements for additional information comparedto the recommendations of the Swedish Financial Accounting StandardsCouncil, including information about employee absence due to illness and the genderbreakdown of Boards of Directors and management.Information on absence due to illness is provided only for the Parent Companyand in <strong>2003</strong> is limited to the period July 1 – December 31. The information is providedin Note 35.Information on gender breakdown shall refer to the situation on the balance sheetdate. The term “senior executives” in the various subsidiaries refers to the membersof the management team in each respective business unit.The number of employees during the year was calculated as an average of thenumber on four measurement dates during the year.Order bookings and order backlogOrder backlog refers to the value of the remaining non-accrued project revenuesfrom assignments that have been received.The order backlog in the accounts of acquired subsidiaries on the date of acquisitionis not reported as order bookings, but is included in order backlog amounts.Exchange rates, <strong>2003</strong>Year-endexchange rateAverageexchange rateCurrency Country/zone <strong>2003</strong> 2002 <strong>2003</strong> 2002ARS Argentina 2.47 2.60 2.75 3.21CZK Czech Republic 0.28 0.29 0.29 0.30DKK Denmark 1.22 1.23 1.23 1.23EUR EU euro zone 9.07 9.15 9.12 9.16GBP United Kingdom 12.89 14.12 13.19 14.57HKD Hong Kong 0.93 1.13 1.04 1.25NOK Norway 1.08 1.25 1.14 1.22PLN Poland 1.94 2.29 2.08 2.38USD United States 7.26 8.83 8.08 9.73Swedish kronor (SEK) per unit of each currency.Note 2Effects of changes in accounting principlesDue to the following changes in accounting principles - aside from point A,”Employee benefits” – comparative figures have been recalculated.A. Employee benefits, RR 29Effective from January 1, <strong>2003</strong>, <strong>Skanska</strong> has applied RR 29, ”Employee benefits,”which is based on International Accounting Standard (IAS) 19. The changein accounting principle has been applied directly to shareholders’ equity. See”Accounting and valuation principles,” Note 1.The effect on the opening consolidated balance sheet for <strong>2003</strong> was as follows.Adjustment of the consolidated balance sheet on January 1, <strong>2003</strong>AssetsShares and participations 62Deferred tax claims 540Non-interest-bearing assets, pension receivables –273Other non-interest-bearing assets 52Total 381Shareholders’ equity and liabilitiesShareholders’ equity –1,110Interest-bearing pension liabilities 1,362Provisions 131Total 383Change in pensionsMinus pension receivables –273Plus pension liabilities 1,362Total net effect, pension liabilities 1,635Effect, net loan liabilities –1,362B. Transition to equity accounting of joint venturesEffective from <strong>2003</strong>, <strong>Skanska</strong> has switched to reporting joint ventures according to theequity method of accounting. See ”Accounting and valuation principles,” Note 1.The change in accounting method affects the consolidated financial statementsfor 2002 as follows.As the following table indicates, a portion of Gammon <strong>Skanska</strong>’s earnings werereported as including items affecting comparability in last year’s income statement.This item has been removed in its entirety in this year’s income statement. See alsopoint D below.Effect on consolidated income statement for 2002Net sales –4,323Construction, manufacturing and property management expenses 3,951Gross income –372Selling and administrative expenses 287Income from holdings in associated companies and joint ventures –274Items affecting comparability 364Operating income 5Income from financial current assets –5Income after financial items 0Taxes 0Net profit for the year 0Effect on consolidated balance sheet for 2002AssetsIntangible fixed assetsGoodwill –230Tangible fixed assets –252Financial fixed assetsShares and participations in joint ventures 662Inventories –25Current receivables –1,425Cash and bank balances –346Total –1,616Shareholders’ equity and liabilitiesShareholders’ equity 0Minority interests 2Provisions –7Non-interest-bearing current liabilities –1,611Total –1,616Effect on consolidated cash flow statementCash flow from business operations 17Cash flow from investment operations 121Cash flow from financing operations 124Cash flow for the year 262Effect on consolidated operating cash flow statementCash flow from business operations 138Cash flow from financing operations 124Cash flow from strategic investments 0Cash flow for the year 262<strong>Skanska</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2003</strong> – Notes, including accounting and valuation principles 49
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