A -- Basis of presentation
The Consolidated Financial Statements of BASF SE as of December 31, 2008, have been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Section 315a (1) of the German Commercial Code (HGB). All of the binding IFRS in the reporting year 2008 as well as the pronouncements of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) were applied.
Those IFRSs which had not been endorsed by the European Union at the balance sheet date had no effect on BASF’s Consolidated Financial Statements.
The accounting policies and valuation methods that have been applied are the same as those of the previous year. Exceptions to this are changes required by the application of new or revised standards and interpretations. In this regard, there were no material changes in 2008.
On February 24, 2009, the Consolidated Financial Statements were authorized for issue by the Board of Executive Directors and submitted for approval by the Audit Committee to the Supervisory Board of BASF SE at their meeting on March 3, 2009.
