Fiscal 2020 Universal Registration Document

ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES

Short-term benefits

Group employees receive short-term benefits such as vacation pay, sick pay, bonuses and other benefits (other than termination benefits), whose payment is expected within 12 months of the related service period.

These benefits are reported as current liabilities.

Post-employment benefits

In accordance with IAS 19 “Employee Benefits”, Sodexo measures and recognizes post-employment benefits as follows:

•  contributions to defined-contribution plans are recognized as an expense; and
•  defined benefit plans are measured using actuarial valuations.

Sodexo uses the projected unit credit method as the actuarial method for measuring its post-employment benefit obligations, on the basis of the national or company-wide collective agreements effective within each entity.

Factors used in calculating the obligation include length of service, life expectancy, salary inflation, staff turnover, and macro-economic assumptions specific to countries in which Sodexo operates (such as inflation rate and discount rate).

Remeasurement of the net obligation under defined benefit plans, including actuarial gains and losses, differences between the return on plan assets and the corresponding interest income recognized in the income statement, and any changes in the effect of the asset ceiling, is recognized in other comprehensive income and have no impact on profit for the period.

Plan amendments and the establishment of new defined benefit plans result in past service costs that are recognized immediately in the income statement.

The accounting treatment applied to defined benefit plans is as follows:

• the obligation, net of plan assets, is recognized as a non-current liability in the consolidated statement of financial position if the obligation exceeds the plan assets;
• if the value of plan assets exceeds the obligation under the plan, the net amount is recognized as a non-current asset. Plan surpluses are recognized as assets only if they represent future economic benefits that will be available to Sodexo. Where the calculation of the net obligation results in an asset for Sodexo, the amount recognized for this asset may not exceed the present value of all future refunds and reductions in future contributions under the plan;
• the expense recognized in the income statement comprises:
  • current service cost, past service cost, if any, and the effect of plan settlements, all of which are recorded in operating income,
  • the interest expense (income) on the net defined benefit obligation (asset), calculated by multiplying the obligation (asset) by the discount rate used to measure the defined benefit obligation at the beginning of the period.

Sodexo contributes to multiemployer plans, primarily in the United States. These plans are accounted for as defined contribution plans, as the information provided by the plan administrators is insufficient for them to be accounted for as defined benefit plans.

Other long-term employee benefits

Other long-term employee benefits are measured in accordance with IAS 19. The expected cost of such benefits is recognized as a non-current liability over the employee’s period of service. Actuarial gains and losses and past service costs arising from plan amendments and the establishment of new plans are recognized immediately in the income statement.