Siemens 2014 Annual Report Download - page 241

247 D. Consolidated Financial Statements
337 E. Additional Information
213 C. Overall assessment of the economic position
214 C. Subsequent events
215 C. Sustainability and citizenship
225 C. Report on expected developments and
associated material opportunities and risks
242 C. Compensation Report and legal disclosures
242 C. Siemens AG (Discussion on basis
of German Commercial Code)

The specialist skills required of employees involved in the ac-
counting process are assessed when the employees are initially
selected; thereafter, the employees receive regular training. As
a fundamental principle, at the different levels and based on
materiality considerations, items must be verified by at least
one other person (four eyes principle) and specific procedures
must be adhered to for the authorization of the data. Additional
control mechanisms include target-performance comparisons
and analyses of the composition of, and changes in, individual
line items, both in the closing data reported by units and in the
Consolidated Financial Statements. Accounting-related IT sys-
tems provide for defined access rules in order to ensure that
accounting related data is protected from unauthorized access,
use or modification. Every unit included in our Consolidated
Financial Statements is subject to the rules and regulations of
the Corporate Information Security Guide.
On a quarterly basis, an internal certification process is ex-
ecuted. Management of different levels of our organization,
supported by confirmations of management of entities under
their responsibility, confirms the accuracy of the financial data
that has been reported to Siemens’ corporate headquarters and
reports on the effectiveness of the related control systems.
In addition, we have set up a Disclosure Committee – compris-
ing selected heads of Corporate Units – which is responsible for
reviewing certain financial and non-financial information prior
to publication.
The Supervisory Board, through the Audit Committee, is also
integrated into our control system. In particular, the Audit
Committee oversees the accounting process, the effectiveness
of the control system, the risk management system and the
internal audit system, and the independent audit of financial
statements. In addition, it conducts an audit of the documents
related to the Annual Financial Statements of Siemens AG and
the Consolidated Financial Statements and discusses the
Annual Financial Statements of Siemens AG, the Consolidated
Financial Statements and Combined Management Report of
these statements with the Managing Board and the indepen-
dent auditors.
Through audits on a continuous and Siemens wide basis our
internal corporate audit function monitors compliance with
our guidelines and the reliability and functional operation of
our control system as well as the adequacy and effectiveness
of our risk management system.
In addition we have rules for accounting-related complaints
and a Code of Ethics for Financial Matters.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATED TO THE
ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF SIEMENS AG
(GERMAN COMMERCIAL CODE)
Siemens AG as the parent company of the Siemens Group is
integrated into the company-wide accounting-related internal
control system described above. Generally, the information set
out above also applies for Annual Financial Statements of
Siemens AG prepared in accordance with the German Com-
mercial Code.
The Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared in accor-
dance with IFRS. Where required, i.e. for purposes of preparing
statements for local regulatory or tax purposes, data is adopted
in accordance with relevant regulations by means of reconcili-
ation at account level. Accordingly, accurately determined IFRS
closing data also forms an important basis for the Annual
Financial Statements of Siemens AG. In the case of Siemens AG
and other group companies required to prepare financial state-
ments in accordance with German Commercial Code, the
conceptual framework described above is complemented by
mandatory regulations specific to German Commercial Code
within our Financial Reporting Guidelines and a German Com-
mercial Code chart of accounts. The manual and system-based
control mechanisms referred to above generally also apply
when reconciling the IFRS closing data to the Annual Financial
Statements of Siemens AG.