ORGANIZATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES. Organization—Bekaert Corporation (the ‘‘Company’’) x Xxxxxxxx corporation, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bekaert North America Management Corporation (‘‘BNAMC’’), x Xxxxxxxx corporation. BNAMC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of N.V. Xxxxxxx X.X. (the ‘‘Parent’’), a Belgian corporation. The Company is engaged primarily in the business of manufacturing and importing steel wire, wire products, advanced coatings and advanced materials. The Company owns production facilities in Georgia, Arkansas, Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. The Company is lessee of various manufacturing sales and administrative offices in the United States. The Company is headquartered at 0000 Xxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, Xxxxx 000, Xxxxx, Xxxx, 00000. Bekaert Corporation employed 1,857 and 1,720 people as of December 31, 2003 and 2002, respectively. These financial statements were approved by management of the Company and authorized to be issued on April 26, 2004. General—The accompanying financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting (‘‘IFRS’’) Standards. Basis of Presentation—The accompanying financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. Change in Accounting Principle—During 2003, the Parent became a first time adopter of IFRS. The Company previously adopted IFRS during 2001. During the Company’s adoption in 2001, they elected under International Accounting Standards (‘‘IAS’’) No, 19, Employee Benefits, to leave some actuarial gains and losses related to its pension and postretirement benefit plans unrecognized. The Parent elected in its implementation in 2003, as permitted under IAS 19, to recognize all cumulative actuarial gains and losses at the date of transition to IFRS. Under IFRS No. 1, First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, if a first-time adopter uses this election, it shall apply it to all plans. As such, the Company has changed its method of accounting for unrecognized actuarial gains and losses at the date of adoption of IFRS, and retroactively restated the 2002 financial statements for the change. The balance of accumulated deficit was decreased by $17,919 as of January 1, 2002 to reflect the adjustment for the effect of applying retroactively the new method of accounting for unrecognized actuarial gains and losses at the date of adoption of IFRS. The following table presents the effect of the change on previously reported amounts for 2002: December 31,2002(as previou...
