Pursuant to European regulation 1606/2002 of July 19, 2002, the consolidated financial statements of the Sodexo Group have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and approved by the European Union as of the year end. A comprehensive list of the accounting standards adopted by the European Union is available for consultation on the European Commission website at https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en.
Information for the comparative year presented has been prepared using the same principles.
The Group does not apply IFRS standards that are not approved by the European Union at the closing date. During the past three years, considering the Company closing date, the IFRS application dates as approved by the European Union have been the same as those for the IFRS standards published by the IASB.
Furthermore, the Group did not elect to early adopt non-mandatory new standards, amendments and interpretations for Fiscal 2021 . The Group does not anticipate the application of other non-mandatory new standards, amendments and interpretations to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.
Concerning the interest rate benchmarks reform, the Group has carried out an assessment work to assure the transition toward the new benchmarks and is finalizing the discussions with counterparties to negotiate the change of benchmarks (principally for multicurrency confirmed credit facility; see note 12.4.1). As of August 31, 2021 , the Group exposure to indexed financial instruments to benchmarks that will disappear and whose maturity date is greater than the date of implementation of the reform is low and no signifcant impact on the consolidated financial statements are anticipated when the new reform will be implemented.
The accounting policies used by the Group to prepare its consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021 are the same as those used for the consolidated financial statements as of August 31, 2020 . Amendments or interpretations effective as of September 1, 2020 did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements of the Group.
In April 2021, the IFRS Interpretation Committee issued its final decision clarifying the calculation methods, in application of IAS 19 "Employee benefits", for commitments with an obligation to be present in the Group at the time of retirement and of which the rights are capped to a certain number of years of seniority. This same Committee, in March 2021, made final its decision providing details on the accounting for configuration and customization costs of SaaS (Software as a Service) type software. The impacts on consolidated financial statements of the Group of the two decisions are currently being analyzed.
The preparation of financial statements requires the management of Sodexo and its subsidiaries to make estimates and assumptions which affect the amounts reported for assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities as of the date of preparation of the financial statements, and for revenues and expenses for the period.
These estimates and valuations are updated continuously based on past experience and on various other factors considered reasonable in view of current circumstances and are the basis for the assessments of the carrying amount of assets and liabilities. Unpredictability generated by the Covid-19 pandemic made the use of estimations and hypothesis a key factor in the establishment of the annual consolidated financial statements.
Final amounts may differ substantially from these estimates if assumptions or circumstances change.
Significant items subject to such estimates and assumptions include the following:
