23. Deferred income and government grants

Deferred income is accounted for in compliance with the prudence principle and the revenue-and-cost matching principle. Deferred income includes the following items:

• funds received for financing the purchase or manufacture of property, plant and equipment as well as intangible assets. This is accounted for by gradually increasing other operating income by an amount corresponding to the depreciation charges on such assets in the part financed by the said funds. This applies in particular to partially or fully remitted loans and credits and grants for the purchase of property, plant and equipment, as well as grants for development work or purchase of intangible assets,
• property, plant and equipment and intangible assets received free of charge. Write-downs on these revenues are recognised in other operating income in parallel with the depreciation charges on such property, plant and equipment.

Government grants are recognised if there is reasonable certainty that a grant will be acquired and all related conditions will be fulfilled. If a grant is related to an asset, then its accounting consists in gradually increasing other operating income by the amount corresponding to depreciation charges on such assets.