AT&S World

eporting, regular reporting is made to the audit committee on
risk management and activities of the internal audit (risk and
audit report). The audit committee in turn reports to the other
members of the Supervisory Board.
The executives of AT&S as risk responsibles are responsible for
identifying, analyzing, controlling and monitoring risks in their
respective area. In addition, the local management of the plants
is responsible for the implementation of the risk management
process in their areas of responsibility. Risk management coordinators
in the group companies assist the group function in
the collection and transmission of risk information. In terms of
an efficient organization according to the company size, the organizational
servicing of the internal control system is designed
accordingly.
Based on business processes documented in the management
manual, the related risks are described and assessed by the process
responsibles for each main and sub-process. In the risk
assessment, basically all potentially negative factors that jeopardize
the achievement of the objectives of an organization or a
process have to be documented by the process owner. The control
objectives for the financial reporting are derived from existing
risks and allocated to the categories existence (only actually existing
and approved business transactions are processed), occurrence/period
accrual (representation of business transactions in
the correct period or timely processing), completeness (business
transactions, assets and liabilities are recognized completely),
measurement (business transactions were calculated using appropriate
measurement methods or correctly), rights & obligations
(The company has economic ownership of assets and liabilities
are actual obligations of the company), presentation
& disclosure (disclosure in the financial statements and other
reports), correctness of business transactions/data and access
restriction (access to IT systems is restricted to process responsibles).
The documentation of the internal controls (business processes,
risks, control measures and responsibles) is made principally
in the form of control matrices, which are archived in a central
management database. The accounting-related internal control
system includes principles, procedures and measures to ensure
the compliance of group accounting in terms of the control objectives
described with financial reporting.
The processes of accounting and group accounting are documented
in separate process instructions. Basis for the group reporting
are the respective local accounts, which are transformed into a
group-wide uniform reporting. The individual pre-accounting
processes are as far as possible uniformly designed across the
Group Management Report 2010/11
Group and are presented in a standardized documentation format.
In addition to the group reporting, various local regulations
have to be considered accordingly, resulting in additional
requirements on the accounting processes.
The principles of group accounting and reporting are set out in
the group-wide “Group Accounting Manual”. This manual regulates
the significant accounting and reporting requirements
across the Group in a uniform manner. In addition to the basic
presentations on the accounting of individual business transactions
and measurement guidelines based on IFRS, options applied
uniformly across the Group are dealt with in particular.
As for scheduling, a timetable is set up for the entire internal
and external reporting which, apart from report deadlines, also
includes the planned dates for the meetings of the Supervisory
Board and audit committee, as well as press conferences.
At AT&S, the processes for group accounting and the preparation
of the group management report are controlled by the Group Accounting/Group
Finance department, which reports to the CFO.
Laws, accounting standards and other announcements are continuously
analyzed regarding the relevance and impact on the
consolidated financial statements and other reporting requirements.
The collection, current entry and accounting of the business
transactions is performed in the manufacturing group companies
mainly through a uniform and central software solution of
SAP. The individual business transactions and measurements
can be entered in accordance with the group-uniform IFRS, as
well as in accordance with local accounting regulations, in order
to comply with these different requirements. At individual
subsidiaries, in particular due to the smaller size, other software
solutions are applied, which also comply with the group reporting
requirements and local regulations. The central reporting
software Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System is
used for consolidation and group reporting. Automatic interfaces
have been established for the transition of accounting data from
the primary system to the group reporting software.
The internal financial reporting is made on a monthly basis, with
the financial information of the subsidiaries being reviewed and
analyzed at the group level by the Group Accounting department.
The monthly budget/actual variance with corresponding comments
on the plant results as well as the group result is reported
internally to the executives of the Group and to the members of
the Supervisory Board. At the end of the quarter, detailed reporting
packages with all relevant accounting data on income statement,
balance sheet, cash flow statement and the disclosures
in the notes are submitted. These reporting packages form the
113