Septiembre 2011

Industry adaptations

As a general rule, the industry adaptations that were in force at the date of publication of the new Spanish National Chart of Accounts remain in force and continue to apply insofar as they do not contradict general accounting legislation (Spanish Commercial Code, Limited Liability Companies Law, National Chart of Accounts and other legislation).

Also, the following industry adaptations have come into force since the date of publication of the new Spanish National Chart of Accounts:

• 
  Ministry of Economy and Finance Order EHA/3360/2010, of 21 December, approving the rules on the accounting aspects of cooperatives.
  

• 
  Ministry of Economy and Finance Order EHA/3362/2010, of 23 December, approving the rules for adapting the Spanish National Chart of Accounts for public infrastructure concession operators.
  

• 
  Royal Decree 1317/2008, of 24 July, approving the Chart of Accounts for insurance companies, subsequently amended by Royal Decree 1736/2010, of 23 December.
  

In all three cases these are very specific accounting rules although, due to its similarity to existing International Standards (IFRIC 12), set forth below is a description of the main features of the industry adaptation for concession operators.

Industry adaptations

Concession operators

As indicated above, the industry adaptation of the Spanish National Chart of Accounts for public infrastructure concession operators is regulated in Ministry of Economy and Finance Order EHA/3362/2010, of 23 December.

This Order, which approves the recognition, measurement and disclosure rules relating to public infrastructure concession arrangements, is obligatorily applicable for all concession operators that enter into concession arrangements with a grantor, albeit exclusively in relation to the accounting treatment of the “concession arrangement”. The accounting treatment of all the other transactions that might be carried out by these operators is governed by the general rules of the Spanish National Chart of Accounts. In this regard, in order for there to be a concession arrangement concession infrastructure has to exist.

This industry adaptation is structured in six rules:

• 
  The first, which introduces the definitions required to define the scope of application of the rule.
  

• 
  The second, which sets forth the rules for accounting for concession arrangements.
  

• 
  The third, which encompasses both matters common to all concession arrangements and other matters specific to certain sectors of activity (water supply, motorways, tunnels, bridges, etc.).
  

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  The fourth, which governs the disclosures to be included in the notes to the financial statements.
  

• 
  The fifth, which details the criteria for preparing financial statements.
  

• 
  And the sixth, which includes a proposal concerning the coding and denomination of accounts.
  

It should be noted as a general comment on all these rules that they represent an adaptation of the Spanish National Chart of Accounts for concession operators and aim to bring Spanish accounting legislation closer into line with European legislation. Therefore,

they were drawn up on the basis of IFRIC 12, introducing into the Spanish accounting framework certain rules that are compatible with international standards. However, it cannot be concluded that the two sets of legislation are the same, since the Spanish industry adaptation contains certain specific features where it was considered necessary to introduce differences, such as in the accounting treatment of borrowing costs.