1. OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE

1.1   Objective of this Procedure

This procedure describes how to manage the ACTUAL0 Category, such as create the Category for a new year or to maintain when there is an operation in Solvay’s scope of companies, as well as the sell of a company; the acquisition of a company; and change in the method of consolidation.purpose of ACTUAL0 reporting category and how it is managed in BFC, as well as other related customizing in other BFC modules.

This procedure applies to the BFC Administration team.

2. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

3. DEFINITIONS

GAR teamTeam - Group Account Accounting & Reporting Team (Consolidation & Tax team)

BFC-Admin team Team - Team responsible to administrate the Consolidation Tool for the Group Solvay (BFC)

CAM - Company Account Manager

CBCR - Country By Country Report

4. SUMMARY 

4.1 Principle and Context 

The Corporate Secretary is responsible to communicate the changes in the Solvay's structure that are performed in the PRS System.

The GAR team communicate through the Structure File, available in the GAR AODOCs Library, the changes in the Solvay's Structure.

The BFC Administration team is responsible to maintain any necessary update in ACTUAL0 category.

The CAM is responsible to enter the information in this category for the companies under his/her scope.

administrating BFC SCO (Syensqo Group Consolidation tool)

General Group Secretary - Team from Legal Corporate communicating changes on Syensqo's shareholding structure (new or change in ownership, mergers, divestments, liquidations...) and managing companies' codifications in both ERP and BFC

CAM - Company Account Manager

FSL SU FA GL - General Ledger team from Service Unit "Financial Accounting" in FSL (GBS Finance Service Line)

IG - Fully Consolidated method

IP - Proportional Consolidation method

ME - Equity Method

NC - Not Consolidated

4. SUMMARY 

4.1 Purpose and Content 

The deliverables from the ACTUAL0 data collection are :

• Syensqo Group shareholding structure – updated and published in  GAR SYENSQO AODOC team site Syensqo Shareholding Structure
• The financial valuation of the non consolidated companies at Group level (vs Group consolidated figures).
• The local equity of legal companies for dividend valuation purpose

Depending on the consolidation method (IG - IP - MEQ - NC) of the reporting companies, the content of their ACTUAL0 reporting package may differ:

Consolidated Companies (IG/IP/MEQ conso methods)

• L4005 schedule "Investment (number)" - reports thenumber of shares that the reporting company (as Mother) owns in each of its affiliate (Daughters), as well as the the number of shares that the affiliate has issued, then it is possible to know the percentage owned by each of the Mother (s). If there is any variance compared to opening balance, it is explained by flow
• L4000 schedule "Local Gaap equity for dividends valuation" - reports the Dec Y-1 statutory equity information needed to evaluate the dividends distribution at Group level
• L4020 schedule "Shareholder's equity" - reportsthe numbers of shares issued by the Daughter company, split per its Mother companies. If there is any variance compared to opening balance it is explained by flow

Non Consolidated (NC) Companies

• L4005 schedule "Investment (number)" - same content and reporting principles as for Consolidated companies - To be noted that in most of cases, the Non Consolidated companies do not own affiliates
• L4020 schedule "Shareholder's equity" - reportsthe numbers of shares issued by the Daughter company, split per its Mother companies. If there is any variance compared to opening balance it is explained by flow
• L4050 schedule "Financial information" – reports the summarized Dec Y-1 Financial Statements (consistent with published annual accounts approved by Board of Shareholders and with equity value after dividends distribution), headcounts and external auditors names

4.1 Reporting Calendar Purpose

Depending on their consolidation status and depending on the quarterly reporting period, ACTUAL0 data to be updated and published are different:

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Permanent instructions on ACTUAL0 Reporting are issued every year by FSL SU FA team and published in  Syensqo GAR Team site "Permanent Instructions" folder, and also inserted in Quarterly GAR closing instructions:

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• General Group secretary: collects and communicates changes in the Syensqo's shareholding structure (new or change in ownership, mergers, divestments, liquidations...) 
• GAR Team:
  • communicate changes in Syensqo Shareholding structure  through its Structure File in  GAR SYENSQO AODOC - "Syensqo structure files"
  • analyzes ACTUAL0 inputs (Local equity for dividends valuation)
  • uses ACTUAL0 consolidated data (Financial Information on NC companies  / Shareholding tree) to build appendices from the Annual report
• BFC Administration team maintains and updates ACTUAL0 reporting category (packages generation, consolidation creation, scheduling and on demand run)
• CAM enters the information for the companies under his/her scope:
  • for NC companies: CAM or CAM from the Mother company
• FSL SU FA GL is responsible to perform the quarterly checks on ACTUAL0 data (number of shares declared by Mothers & Daughters) and to manage mass lockings & unlockings

At the beginning of the year, ACTUAL0 category has to be created for the current year. By principle, there is only one category per year, using one single December period (ACTUAL0 - YYYY.12).

Package generation :

• Starts with should correspond to the perimeter published in the Y-1 annual report with the following updates:
• Companies sold / liquidated / merged in Y-1 => no pack to be created
  • CBCR (based on Y-1 / IG IP MEQ) not needed. If any need, data can be collected out of ACTUAL0
  • Financial data on Non Conso (based on Y-1) not needed by GAR
• Companies entering in the scope in Y (new acquired), package should be generated as soon as the company is created in BFC following the official communication from General Group Secretary. 

The packages stay opened along the year to allow the CAM to update the information when necessary and out of the closing periods. However, every quarter the packages have to be published and locked during two days, to allow the FSL SU-FA GL Team to analyze and validate the data at consolidated level.

ACTUAL0 12.YYYY – Quarterly procedure for lockings & unlockings  

The table below summarized for each Reporting quarter the scope of mass lockings and unlockings managed by FSL SU FA GL team:

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ACTUAL0 REPORTING SETUP

The process by which data is reported is defined in the Reporting Organizer and RU Organizer. In these modules it can be defined:

•  "Reporting Organizer"  is the module where BFC Admin will create the ACTUAL0 Reporting category for the current Y defining:
  • Start/End dates / Package schedules / Set of controls / Source for opening balance / Deadline for 1st submission (D-1 end of March Y) / Integration mode after publication
• "RU Organizer" is the module where BFC Admin will insert the Reporting companies and generate their ACTUAL0 package
  • List of companies to be inserted can be copied from the Y-1 ACTUAL0 category, removing after manually the packages not to be created (sold liquidated merged companies) and adding the new companies expected to report from Y

• • Non Conso companies: BFC Admin will adapt their package schedules and set of controls (as they have a different reporting content compared to IG IP MEQ companies)
  • Note that package schedules and set of controls to be used are defined in this document "BFC Admin Reporting set up per category and period"

ACTUAL0 SCOPES OF CONSOLIDATION

3 different scopes used for ACTUAL0 consolidations:

• SYENSQO - includes IG / IP / MEQ companies only- note that this is the scope also used in IFRS ACTUAL2 consolidation
• SYENFULL -ALL companies(IG IP MEQ NC) considered as 100% consolidated (as if they were all IG)
• SYENCONSO - IG companies consolidated at 100% / IP MEQ and NC consolidated as IP at their % of interests

These Scopes initiated at the beginning of the year, should be updated all during the year each time a change is communicated (by Group General Secretary or by GAR in its structure file).

ACTUAL0 CONSOLIDATIONS SETUP

Here below the list of ACTUAL0 consolidations required during the year and their purpose. 

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Consolidations under Variant (V) 2 need to be updated on Quarterly basis:

• when the Conversion Rates of the period are made available (WD-1)
• when the SYENSQO scope of the period is made available (WD1)

ACTUAL0 SCHEDULING (AUTOMATED) CONOLIDATION RUNS

• Every quarter on from WD1 till WD4 scheduling of ACTUAL0 for SYENSQO V2 and SYENFULL V2 and their related Reconciliation consos - every hour

5.1 REPORTING SETUP - Reporting Organizer

In the Reporting Organizer module, ACTUAL0 Category for the period (Reporting ID) is created with its reporting characteristics (Deadline, Folder, Set of Controls, Opening Balances...).

In the RU Organizer is defined the companies to be reported in the category.

Changes required for Non Consolidated companies before Generation: Opening balance + Set Folders & Controls

5.4 REPORTING SETUP - Pre-loading of F99 at the beginning of the year

As of 2022, F99 "Closing balance" of L4005 (Investments - number of shares) and L4020 (Shareholder’s equity) is pre-loaded with the F00 "opening data".

To ease the reporting process for the CAM and Accounting Platform managing companies hosting significant numbers of investments or mothers, GAR and FSL SU FA teams requested the pre-loading of F99 in headings XCQ261T / XCQ262T / XCQ101T with the values from previous year (=F00 Opening flow from current year) but keeping the possibility to edit/modify the preloaded data. Change requested for all companies whatever their consolidation status.

At the publication of the packs, CAMs should confirm or modify the values pre-loaded in F99.

As a result, a new formula in the category scenario of ACTUAL0 has been introduced: 

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In order to ensure that this automatic pre-filling is working it is recommended to open 1 package per each consolidation method (IG IP MEQ NC) right after the package generation  to check in schedules L4005 and L4020 that the pre-loading is working as expected.

6.1 SCOPES OF CONSOLIDATION - SYENFULL

• SYENFULL definition- ALL companies (IG IP MEQ NC) considered as 100% consolidated (as if they were all IG)

One scope SYENFULL per year to be updated all during the year each time a change is communicated (by Group General Secretary or by GAR in its structure file).

• SYENCONSO definition - IG companies consolidated at 100% / IP MEQ and NC consolidated as IP at their % of interests

One scope SYENCONSO per year to be updated all during the year each time a change (new companies, leaving companies, change in interests %) is communicated (by Group General Secretary or by GAR in its structure file).

6.3 SCOPES OF CONSOLIDATION - SYENSQO

• SYENSQO - includes IG / IP / MEQ companies only (Non Conso excluded)- note that this is the scope also used in IFRS ACTUAL2 consolidation

One scope SYENSQO per month to be updated every WD1 (new companies, leaving companies, change in consolidation methods or in interests %) following the information received during the month (by Group General Secretary or by GAR in its structure file).

In the step Scope, the following procedure describes how to update the companies (insertion & deletion) Companies management in BFC - section 6.ScopeManagement

After all the information is validated the scope has to be transferred to the BFC_Prod_SCO platform.

6.4 SCOPES OF CONSOLIDATION - Transfer from BFC_Top_SCO to BFC_Prod_SCO

BFC _Top_SCO

7.1 CONSOLIDATIONS SETUP

There are 4 consolidations required for the ACTUAL0 category:

• SYENFULL V2.
• SYENCONSO V1 
• SYENSQO V2

This table summarizes purpose and usage of each:

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To create a consolidation it can be done from scratch or with reference to the version of the previous year through the Save As option.

7.1.1 CONSOLIDATIONS SETUP - SYENFULL V2

7.1.3 CONSOLIDATIONS SETUP - SYENSQO VARIANT 2

7.2 INTERCOMPANY RECONCILIATION SETUP

Purpose of this reconciliation performed using ACTUAL0 scopes is to compare and check consistency between shares declared by mothers (schedule L4005 from ACTUAL package) versus the ones declared by daughters (schedule L4020 from ACTUAL0 package) using BFC report "CD190_8".

7.2.1 INTERCO SETUP - using consolidation SYENSQO V2 (IG IP MEQ only)

7.2.2 INTERCO SETUP - using consolidation SYENFULL V2 (Non Conso cnies included)

On a quarterly basis:

• Periods of the Conversion Rate in the consolidation SYENSQO V2 and SYENFULL V2 should be updated to the ones applicable on the quarterly period.
• In SYENSQO V2, the Scope must also be updated every quarter with the latest SYENSQO available

7.4 CONSOLIDATION & INTERCO - Run scheduling

8.1 COMPANIES OPERATIONS - New Companies

When the group acquires a new company, whatever its consolidation status, a package has to be created in the ACTUAL0 Category.

To create the package ensure that the company has already been created in BFC, otherwise follow the instructions in the Procedure related to Companies management in BFC:

Generally, for the companies that left the Group during the course of the year, the packages remain in the ACTUAL0 - YYYY.12, however at the beginning of the next year the packages should not be generated.

Along the year YYYY the packages of these companies should stay Protected, instead locked, this way it is possible to identify the companies that left the Group.

The change of the method of consolidation concerns the transition from the Not Consolidated/ Equity Method/ Proportional to Full Consolidated, or vice versa. In other words, this transition is assimilated to either an increase or decrease in the rate of integration.

The change of consolidation method should be communicated by the Syensqo Corporate Secretary as well as available in the Structure File within the GAR SYENSQO AODOCs Library.

As a consequence of such change, content of their ACTUAL0 package may have to be amended, as well as the reporting setup and the scope of consolidation.

END OF PROCEDURE

5.1 CREATE THE PACKAGES - Reporting Organizer