REGULATION ON FINANCIAL REPORTING BY INSURANCE AND REINSURANCE COMPANIES AND PENSION COMPANIES

Transcription

1 REGULATION ON FINANCIAL REPORTING BY INSURANCE AND REINSURANCE COMPANIES AND PENSION COMPANIES Official Gazette of Publication: Issued By: Prime Ministry (Undersecretariat of Treasury) PART ONE Objective, Scope, Basis and Definitions Objective and scope ARTICLE 1 (1) The objective of this Regulation is to regulate the principles and procedures regarding ensuring transparency and uniformity in the books and records of insurance and reinsurance companies and pension companies, prevention of non-registered transactions, accurate and reliable recognition of operations, timely and accurate preparation, reporting and publication of financial statements covering the details regarding consolidated and non-consolidated financial states, financial performance and management efficiency, and the keeping of documents. Basis ARTICLE 2 (1) This Regulation has been prepared pursuant to Article 18 of the Insurance Law No and dated 3/6/200, and Article 11 of the Private Pension Savings and Investment System Law No and dated 28/3/2001. Definitions ARTICLE 3 (1) The following expressions in this Regulation shall have the following respective meanings; a) Association: Association of the Insurance and Reinsurance Companies of Turkey, b) Law: Insurance Law No and Private Pension Savings and Investment System Law No. 4632, c) Undersecretariat: Undersecretariat of Treasury, ç) Insurance Monitoring System: Electronic data transmission system established to provide remote monitoring over the companies, d) Company: Insurance and reinsurance companies established in Turkey and Turkish organizations of insurance and reinsurance companies established abroad, and pension companies, e) Turkish Accounting Standard: Turkish Accounting Standards and Turkish Financial Reporting Standards and related annexes and comments put into practice by the Accounting Standards Board of Turkey. PART TWO Recognition of Operations, Financial Statements and Financial Reports Recognition of Operations ARTICLE 4 (1) It is essential that the company operations are recognized in accordance with this Regulation and the regulations by the Accounting Standards Board of Turkey on the preparation and presentation principles for financial statements, without prejudice to the communiqués to be issued by the Undersecretariat on the issues specified in the second paragraph. (2) Principles and procedures regarding the insurance contracts, recognition of affiliates, joint ventures and subsidiaries, consolidated financial statements, financial statements to be disclosed to the public and relevant comments and footnotes shall be established in the communiqués to be issued by the Undersecretariat.

2 Financial statements ARTICLE 5 (1) Financial statements shall include the balance sheet, income statement, equity capital variation statement, cash flow statement and dividend distribution statement. Footnotes and comments of financial statements as well as the explanatory reports and statements for the data included in financial statements shall constitute the integral parts of the financial statements. Balance sheet and income statement, footnotes and comments as well as supplements shall constitute the financial statements. Balance Sheet ARTICLE 6 (1) Balance sheet is a statement reflecting accurately and truthfully the assets, obligations and equity capital of the company under assets and liabilities accounts, reflecting the economic and financial state of the companies. The assets part of the balance sheet shall be prepared in terms of liquidity, while the liabilities part shall be prepared in terms of payment priority. (2) Balance sheet shall be prepared on the principle of net worth. Hence, the accounts to regulate the assets and liabilities structure of the company shall be indicated as a discount item under relevant items. Accounts reflecting the assets and liabilities structure of the balance sheet shall not be subject to offsets among each other. The accounts with a payable balance shall be indicated under the assets part of the balance sheet, while those with a receivable balance shall be indicated under the liabilities part of the balance sheet. (3) Assets shall be indicated on the balance sheet in case the right to their future economic benefits lies with the company, and in case they have a reliably measurable value or cost. No accruals shall be affected for receivables of uncertain amounts. Such receivables shall be specified in the comments and footnotes regarding the assets part of the balance sheet. (4) Liabilities shall be indicated on the balance sheet in case an acquisition is made to the effect of transfer from the company of resources with economic benefits, and in case the amount required for the acquisition may be valued in a reliable manner. (5) All outside resources of the company, which are known and which may be estimated appropriately, including those of uncertain amounts or the disputable ones, shall be determined, recorded and indicated on the balance sheet. Income Statement ARTICLE 7 (1) The income statement is a table summarizing the operation results for the period, indicating all returns and revenues of and all costs and expenses incurred by the company in a given accounting period. (2) All income and expenses shall be registered as of the accrual dates, and shall be indicated on the income statement for the relevant accounting period. (3) All income and expenses shall be classified with respect to their sources and each income group shall be compared to a corresponding expense group. No revenue item shall be excluded from the scope of the income statement through partial or full clarification with an expense item. (4) In case of a reliably measurable increase in the economic benefits to be obtained in relation to an increase in assets or a decrease in liabilities, the incomes shall be recognized in the income statement. The recognition of revenues shall be carried out simultaneously with the increase in assets or decrease in liabilities. (5) In case of a reliably measurable decrease in the economic benefits to be obtained in relation to a reduction in assets or an increase in liabilities, the expenses shall be recognized in the income statement. The recognition of expenses shall be carried out simultaneously with the decrease in assets or increase in liabilities. (6) Profits and revenues yet to be realized shall not be represented as having been realized, or those realized shall not be represented as more or less, than the realized amount. In order to indicate the accurate results of operation for one or more periods, accounts should be settled and reconciled at the beginning or end of the relevant period(s).

3 (7) In case corrections are required to be made in relation to income, expense, profit and loss records, such shall be indicated on the income statement for the period only in case the correction records are of a volume or significance to require the correction of the financial statements for previous periods. Cash flow statement ARTICLE 8 (1) The cash flow statement is the table reflecting the cash flow (cash collection and payment) representing the changes to occur in the cash and cash-alike assets of companies within a specific accounting period, classifying them in terms of sources and venues, in accordance with insurance activities, investment activities and financing activities. The cash flow statement shall include the financial data regarding the capability of the company to create cash or cash-equivalent assets, and the assessment of the amount, timing and certainty thereof, and the cash principle shall be adopted in the preparation of the said statement. Equity capital variation statement ARTICLE 9 (1) The equity capital variation statement shall be prepared so as to indicate separately the balance of capital items at the beginning of the accounting period, the increases or decreases to occur throughout the period with respect to such items, and the balance at the end of the period. The transactions for the previous period, in addition to those of the current period, shall be indicated as a separate part in order to ensure comparability. Dividend statement ARTICLE 10 (1) Dividend statement is a table indicating the form of the company's dividend payment for the period. This table shall be prepared to state clearly the dividends to be paid to shareholders, the taxes to be paid and the reserves to be set aside out of the profits for the period. Financial statements ARTICLE 11 (1) The end of year balance sheet and annual income, cash flow, equity capital variation and dividend statements prepared by companies in accordance with the form and content specified in this Regulation and relevant communiqués, the comments and footnotes therein, as well as the independent audit report shall constitute the financial report for the end of the accounting period; the interim balance sheet, income, cash flow and equity capital variation statements, the comments and footnotes therein, and the independent audit report shall constitute the interim financial report. PART THREE Responsibility for the Financial Reporting, Signing, Presentation and Publication of Financial Reports by Authorized Persons The responsibility of the board of directors ARTICLE 12 (1) The board of directors shall be responsible for determining the duties, powers and responsibilities concerning the financial reporting system including the recognition of operations, preparation, approval, auditing, publication and submittal to authorities of financial statements, providing adequate information systems, and supervising the practice in accordance with the principles and procedures established in this Regulation. The board of directors, in connection with this responsibility, shall be responsible for taking the necessary measures required to determine basic policies, to define tasks, duties, powers and responsibilities clearly in accordance with the business flow chart, to create an

4 adequate internal and external information flow system with respect to the accounting and reporting system, and to supervise the related practices. Signing of financial reports with the authorized signatories ARTICLE 13 (1) Annual and interim financial statements, except the independent audit reports, in accordance with the form to be established by the Undersecretariat, as well as the comments and footnotes therein shall be undersigned by the chief executive officer, vice president for financial affairs, director of accounting or financial affairs, along with their names, surnames and titles, attesting to the compliance with the provisions of this Regulation and accounting records, and shall be approved by auditors. The financial statements of insurance companies active in relevant branches shall also be approved by the authorized actuary. (2) The financial statements of companies active in Turkey through Turkish branches shall be prepared by, and the responsibility regarding signatures shall lie with the administrative headquarters in Turkey. Presentation and publication of financial reports ARTICLE 14 (1) Insurance and pension companies shall be required to submit to the Undersecretariat over electronic media and in hard copies within one month the interim non-consolidated financial statements to be prepared as of the end of March, June and September; consolidated interim financial statements within two months; non-consolidated annual financial statements to be prepared as of the end of December within two months, and the consolidated annual financial statements within three months. In case such financial statements are to be audited, the said periods shall be extended by two weeks. (2) These periods shall be multiplied with two for reinsurance companies. In case of life, health and personal accident insurance contracts with terms longer than one year, the financial statements to be submitted by companies shall be accompanied by a document summarizing the mathematical reserves and the dividends to be paid to the insured in case of life insurances, approved by the authorized actuary. (3) The companies shall be required to have their annual financial statements announced in the two daily newspapers distributed throughout the country with a minimum monthly average circulation rate to be determined by the Undersecretariat, within one month following the approval of their general assemblies, and to submit to the Undersecretariat and the Association in print, within seven days following the announcement a copy of the daily in which the announcement was made, along with their statements to the effect that the information announced is the same with the one submitted to the Undersecretariat, and the report prepared by auditors to be established in accordance with Article 347 of the Turkish Commercial Code No.6762 and dated 29/6/1956, and the report by the board of directors established in accordance with Article 327 of the same. In case the financial statements are not approved by the general assembly of the company until the end of May, the information and documents in question shall be submitted to the Undersecretariat and the Association until the end of June, along with the justification of the non-approval by the general assembly. (4) The companies active in Turkey through the establishment of an organization shall be required to submit to the Undersecretariat through electronic media and in print the balance sheet, income and cash flow statements of their headquarters, after the approval of such by the relevant authorities in the country of origin. (5) The companies shall be required to publish on their web sites the annual financial reports as of the date of publication in a newspaper as per the third paragraph, and the interim financial reports as of the date of submittal to the Undersecretariat, and to make such continuously accessible to users for a period of at least five years. The Association shall be obliged to monitor the compliance with such obligations, to warn companies to ensure that faults in this respect are remedied, and notify the Undersecretariat when necessary. (6) The Undersecretariat, on an incidental basis, may extend a grace period for the companies with respect to the submittal to authorities and publication of financial reports as per the first, second and third paragraphs.

5 Re-publication of financial statements ARTICLE 15(Amended: OG-14/6/ ) (1) In cases where financial statements published by companies have been prepared so as to reflect the total assets of the company with a 5 per cent deviation, ledger account items with a 20 per cent variation, or with modified profits or losses after tax to cause a 10 per cent deviation in equity capital, the corrected version of financial statements, along with the publication reason, shall be published within ten days following the notification of the relevant company by the Undersecretariat, in the newspapers where the previous announcement was made, and a copy of the newspaper in which the second announcement was made shall be sent to the Undersecretariat within seven days following the announcement. In cases where one or more accounting periods had passed since, the Undersecretariat may rescind the corrected publication requirement for the financial statements drawn up incorrectly. (2) The Undersecretariat shall warn the company in case of errors or inaccuracies below the thresholds specified in the paragraph above. However, in case such errors are repeated after the warning by the Undersecretariat, or in case a motive to mislead Undersecretariat or public is revealed, the Undersecretariat may require the company to re-publish all misleading financial statements, regardless of the rates and periods specified in the paragraph above. (3) In case the company does not have the re-publication carried out within the period granted by the Undersecretariat, the re-publication of said statements shall be carried out ex officio by the Association, and the costs shall be charged to the company. PART FOUR Miscellaneous and Final Provisions Monitoring ARTICLE 16 (1) The companies are obliged to submit to the Undersecretariat within the framework of the principles and periods specified in the Undersecretariat, through Insurance Monitoring System or in print, in addition to financial reports, the monitoring reports including the statements, reports and schedules as well as account statements as per the principles and procedures to be established by the Undersecretariat. (2) In case monitoring reports are not delivered in due form or on time, the Undersecretariat may demand necessary arrangements and improvements to be made in the accounting and information technologies departments of the company, including the recruitment of new employees and purchase of equipment. In case the said arrangements or improvements are not carried out, or are inadequate, the information technologies and database infrastructure of the company shall be deemed as inadequate for monitoring and audit purposes. Uniform account plan and prospectus ARTICLE 17 (1) The insurance uniform account plan and prospectus to be observed by companies shall be drawn up by the Undersecretariat. Keeping of documents ARTICLE 18 (1) The companies are obliged to keep for ten years, and make available copies whenever required, of the originals letters, telegrams, messages, notices and notifications and other correspondence they receive from the insured, public or private agencies and organizations, and the documents regarding their operations; and where the originals are inaccessible, copies thereof which are not dubious in terms of authenticity, and date and number assigned printed copies of their letters addressed to the insured, public or private agencies or organizations. (2) The documents mentioned in the first paragraph are required to be registered in the document registration system to be established, along with their dates, numbers and subjects. The companies, without prejudice to the limitations introduced in other laws, may keep documents other than legal

6 books, in microfilm or microfiche format, or in electronic, magnetic or similar media, conducive to submittal when required or in audits to be carried out by the Undersecretariat. Regulation abolished ARTICLE 19 (1) The Regulation on Insurance Accounting System published in the Official Gazette No and dated 31/12/2004 is abolished. Entry into Force ARTICLE 20 (1) This Regulation shall enter into force on 1/1/2008. Enforcement ARTICLE 21 (1) The provisions of this Regulation shall be executed by the Minister in charge of the Undersecretariat of Treasury.