Siemens 2011 Annual Report Download - page 299

153 D. Consolidated Financial Statements 273 E. Additional information
158 D. Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity
160 D. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
266 D. Supervisory Board and Managing Board
154 D. Consolidated Statements of Income
155 D. Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
156 D. Consolidated Statements of Financial Position
157 D. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flow

 – Pension plans
and similar commitments
Pension benefits provided by Siemens are currently organized
primarily through defined benefit pension plans which cover
almost all of the Company ’s domestic employees and many of
the Company ’s foreign employees. To reduce the risk expo-
sure to Siemens arising from its pension plans, the Company
performed a redesign of some major pension plans during the
last several years towards benefit schemes which are predom-
inantly based on contributions made by the Company. In or-
der to fund Siemens’ pension obligations, the Company ’s ma-
jor pension plans are funded with assets in segregated pen-
sion entities.
Furthermore, the Company provides other post-employment
benefits, which primarily consist of transition payments to
German employees after retirement as well as post-employ-
ment health care and life insurance benefits to employees in
the U.S. and Canada. These predominantly unfunded other
post-employment benefit plans qualify as defined benefit
plans under IFRS.
The Consolidated Statements of Financial Position include the
following significant components related to pension plans
and similar commitments as of September ,  and :
September ,
(in millions of €)  
Pension benefit plans 6,552 7,640
Other post-employment benefit plans 754 824
Liabilities for pension plans
and similar commitments 7,306 8,464
Prepaid costs for post-employment benefits 149 37
Actuarial (losses)/gains (5,670) (6,023)
Effects in connection with asset ceiling (163) (145)
Income tax effect 1,007 1,259
Net amount recognized in the Consolidated
Statements of Changes in Equity, net of tax (4,826) (4,909)
In addition to the above, the Company has foreign defined con-
tribution plans for pensions and other post-employment bene-
fits or makes contributions to social pension funds based on le-
gal regulations (State plans). The recognition of a liability is not
required because the obligation of the Company is limited to
the payment of the contributions into these plans or funds.
PENSION BENEFITS
Beginning with fiscal , figures presented cover both prin-
cipal and non-principal pension benefits provided by Siemens.
The presentation of prior-year information has been adjusted
to conform to the current-year presentation.
The pension benefit plans cover , participants, includ-
ing , active employees, , former employees with
vested benefits and , retirees and surviving depen-
dents. Individual benefits are generally based on eligible com-
pensation levels and / or ranking within the Company hierar-
chy and years of service. Retirement benefits under these
plans vary depending on legal, fiscal and economic require-
ments in each country. The majority of Siemens’ active em-
ployees in Germany participate in a pension scheme intro-
duced in fiscal , the BSAV (Beitragsorientierte Siemens
Altersversorgung). The BSAV is a funded defined benefit pen-
sion plan whose benefits are predominantly based on contri-
butions made by the Company and returns earned on such
contributions, subject to a minimum return guaranteed by
the Company. The BSAV is funded via the BSAV Trust. In con-
nection with the implementation of the BSAV, benefits provid-
ed under defined benefit pension plans funded via the
Siemens German Pension Trust were modified to substantially
eliminate the effects of compensation increases by freezing
the accrual of benefits under the majority of these plans.
The Company ’s pension benefit plans are explicitly explained
in the subsequent sections with regard to:
> Pension obligations, plan assets and funded status,
> Components of NPBC,
> Amounts recognized in the Consolidated Statements of
Comprehensive Income,
> Assumptions used for the calculation of the DBO and NPBC,
> Sensitivity analysis,
> Plan assets, and
> Pension benefit payments.