Inelegant presentation of new fair value hierarchy disclosures Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis publishes new information on the fair value hierarchy of financial assets, but includes $156 million items measured at amortised cost in the table, which are identified as such only elsewhere in the financial statements.
Minority interest buy-out significantly reduces equity as finance costs classified as exceptional Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche classifies as exceptional financing costs associated with acquisition of minority interest that reduces its equity by 82%.
Costs of post-regulatory clinical trials reclassified as R&D
Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche restates its research and development (R&D) expenditure to include CHF661 million costs of post-regulatory clinical studies, increasing reported R&D expenditure by 9%.
Inappropriate terminology used for goodwill impairments
Swiss chemicals company Clariant inappropriately describes CHF95 million goodwill impairments as "accumulated amortisation", whilst recognising CHF209 million total impairments, that reduce pre-tax profit by 70%.
Swiss asset manager and private bank Julius Baer reclassifies assets, carried now at CHF58 million, from held for trading to available for sale but does not provide the facts and circumstances to support its move.
Impairment test result at odds with market value Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis recognises no impairment in an associate bought at US$141 per share, when the price falls to US$89, as its own calculations support a value of US$145, but it does little to explain the difference.