| 4.1 | Financial instruments |
The classification of financial instruments depends on the nature and purpose for which the financial assets or liabilities were acquired and is determined at the time of initial recognition. Financial assets and financial liabilities are initially measured at their fair value.
Transaction costs that are directly attributable to the acquisition or issue of financial assets and financial liabilities (other than financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss) are added to or deducted from the fair value of the financial assets or financial liabilities, as appropriate, on initial recognition. Transaction costs directly attributable to the acquisition of financial assets or financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss are recognized immediately in profit or loss.
All financial assets are initially recorded at fair value. Loans and trade receivables, other receivables and financial assets held-to-maturity are measured subsequently measured at amortized cost using the effective interest method.
Equity investments available for sale that do not have a market quotation price and for which fair value cannot be reliably measured are measured at cost less any impairment identified at the end of each reporting period.
Measurements at fair value
Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The fair value measurement is based on the presumption that the transaction to sell the asset or transfer the liability takes place in the principal market of the asset or liability or in the absence of a principal market in the most advantageous market for the asset or liability.
All assets and liabilities for which fair value is measured or disclosed in the financial statements are classified within the following scale based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement as a whole, as follows:
| | § | Level 1: Quoted (unadjusted) market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. The fair value of the Group’s marketable securities that a quoted market price is based on Level 1 inputs. |
| | § | Level 2: Valuation techniques for which the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement is directly or indirectly observed. Level 2 inputs include prices of similar assets, prices obtained through quotations made by stockbrokers, and prices that can be substantially corroborated with other observable data with the same contractual terms. |
For derivative contracts for which a quoted market price is not available, fair value estimations are generally determined using models and other valuation methods, the key inputs for which include future prices, volatility estimates, price correlation, counterparty credit risk and market liquidity, as appropriate. For other assets and liabilities, fair value estimations are generally based on the net present value of expected future cash.
| | § | Level 3: Valuation techniques for which the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement is unobservable. The Group does not use Level-3 inputs for the measurement of financial assets and liabilities. The Group may use Level-3 inputs for the calculation the recoverable amount of certain non-financial assets for the purpose of impairment testing. |
Effective interest rate method
The effective interest rate method is a method of calculating the amortized cost of a financial instrument and accounting of income or financial cost over the relevant period. The effective interest rate is the discount rate that exactly discounts estimated future cash receipts or payments (including all fees, transaction costs and other premiums or discounts) through the expected life of the financial instrument (or, when appropriate, at a shorter period), to the net carrying amount on initial recognition.
Impairment
The Group evaluates, on each reporting date, if there is objective evidence that a financial asset or group of financial assets are impaired. Financial assets are evaluated for the impairment indicators at the end of each reporting period. Financial assets are considered to be impaired when there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after initial recognition, the estimated future cash flows of the asset have been affected. For financial assets measured at amortized cost, the amount of the impairment loss recognized is the difference between the asset’s carrying amount and the present value of estimated future cash flows, discounted at the financial asset’s original effective interest rate.
De-recognition of financial assets
Ecopetrol derecognizes a financial asset only upon the expiration of the contractual rights to the cash flows of the asset or, when it has transferred its rights to receive such cash flows or has assumed the obligation to pay the cash flows received in full without material delay to a third party and (a) it has transferred substantially all the risks and benefits inherent in the ownership of the financial asset or (b) it has neither transferred nor retained substantially all the risks and benefits of the asset, but has transferred control of the asset.
When the Group does neither transfer nor retain substantially all the risks and benefits of the asset or transfer control of the asset, the Group continues to recognize the transferred asset, to the extent of its continuing participation, and it also recognizes the associated liability.
