General information
The WIENER STÄDTISCHE Versicherung AG VIENNA INSURANCE GROUP is the leading Austrian insurance company in Central and Eastern Europe and thus the largest publicly traded insurance group in Austria. Its headquarters is located at Schottenring 30, 1010 Vienna. The WIENER STÄDTISCHE WECHSELSEITIGE Versicherungsanstalt-Vermögensverwaltung incorporates as the senior parent company the WIENER STÄDTISCHE Versicherung AG VIENNA INSURANCE GROUP in its consolidated financial statements.
The insurance companies of the Vienna Insurance Group offer high-quality insurance services in both life and other insurance areas in 23 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Significant accounting policies
The consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2007 have been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”), including the applicable interpretations of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (“IFRIC”). The consolidated financial statements were prepared based on the published IFRS as adopted by EU regulation. Application of these standards was mandatory on 31 December 2007. These consolidated financial statements comply with the guidelines of the new IFRS 7 standards. IFRS 7 replaces IAS 30 (Disclosures and Presentation) as well as parts of IAS 32 (Financial Instruments: Disclosure) and now encompasses all disclosure requirements for financial instruments. Since the Vienna Insurance Group previously disclosed the fair values of each category of financial instruments, the implementation of the accounting standard further impacts the financial results and risk report. Since 2002, the designation IFRS has stood for the overall framework of all standards adopted by the IASB. Previously adopted standards continue to be referred to as International Accounting Standards (IAS).
The consolidated financial statements are prepared in terms of thousands of Euro (“EUR ‘000”, using commercial rounding). As a rule, the consolidated financial statements are prepared using the historical cost system, with the exception of the following assets and liability items, which are carried at fair value:
1. Financial investments available for sale
2. Financial instruments held for trading, including financial assets at fair value through profit and loss
3. Investments of unit- and index-linked life insurance and underwriting provisions of unit- and index-linked life insurance
4. Financial investments
The accounting policies described below have been applied uniformly during the entire reporting period and all prior reporting periods since preparation of the IFRS opening balance sheet as of 1 January 2004. This applies similarly to all fully consolidated companies included in the consolidated financial statements. The sole exception to this Group-wide uniform application of accounting policies concerns the valuation of insurance policies in accordance with IFRS 4 as discussed in more detail in the section titled "Classification of insurance policies".
