i. Financial assets
A financial asset that is not recorded at fair value through profit and loss is assessed at each reporting date to determine whether there is objective evidence that it is impaired. A financial asset is impaired if there is objective evidence of a loss event after the initial recognition of the asset, and that such loss event had a negative impact on the estimated future cash flows of that asset that can be estimated reliably.
Objective evidence that financial assets are impaired includes default or delinquency by a debtor, restructuring of an amount due to the Company, evidence that a debtor may go bankrupt, or the disappearance of an active market for a security. In addition, for an investment in an equity security, a significant or prolonged reduction in its fair value below its cost is objective evidence of impairment.
The Company considers evidence of impairment for financial assets valued at amortized cost (accounts receivables and held-to-maturity investment securities) both individually and collectively. All individually significant receivables and held-to-maturity investment securities are assessed for specific impairment. Assets that are not individually significant are collectively assessed for impairment by grouping together assets with similar risk characteristics.
In assessing collective impairment, the Company uses historical trends of probabilities of default, timeliness of recoveries and the amount of loss incurred, adjusted for management’s judgment as to whether current economic and credit conditions are such that the actual losses are greater or less than those suggested by historical trends.
An impairment loss related to a financial asset valued at amortized cost is calculated as the difference between the carrying amount of the asset and the present value of estimated future cash flows discounted at the effective interest rate. Losses are recognized in profit and loss and reflected in an allowance account against receivables or held-to-maturity investment securities. Interest on impaired assets continues being recognized. When a subsequent event that occurs after impairment has been recognized, it results in the reduction of the loss amount; this reduction is reversed through profit and loss.
ii. Non-financial assets
The carrying amounts of the Company´s non-financial assets, other than inventories, biological assets and deferred tax assets, are reviewed at each reporting date to determine whether there is any indication of impairment. If any such indication exists, then the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated or cash generating units, as the lowest between its value in use and the fair value less cost of sale. Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are tested annually for impairment on the same dates.
The Company defines the cash generating units and also estimates the periodicity and cash flows that they should generate. Subsequent changes in the group of cash-generating units, or changes in the assumptions that support the cash flow estimates or the discount rate could impact the carrying amounts of the respective asset.
The main assumptions for developing estimates of recoverable amounts requires the Company’s management to estimate the future cash flows expected to arise from the cash-generating unit and a suitable discount rate in order to calculate its present value. The Company estimates cash flow projections considering current market conditions, determination of future prices of goods and volumes of production and sales. In addition, for the purposes of the discount and perpetuity growth rates, the Company uses indicators of market and expectations of long-term growth in the markets in which it operates.
The Company estimates a discount rate before taxes for the purposes of the goodwill impairment test that reflects the risk of the corresponding cash-generating units and that enables the calculation of present value of expected future cash flows, as well as to reflect risks that were not included in the cash flow projection assumptions and premises. The discount rate that the Company estimates is based on the weighted average cost of capital. In addition, the discount rate estimated by the Company reflects the return that market participants would require if they had made a decision about an equivalent asset, as well as the expected generation of cash flow, time, and risk-and-return profiles.
The Company annually reviews the circumstances which led to an impairment loss arising from cash-generating units to determine whether such circumstances have been changed and that may result in the reversal of previously recognized impairment losses. An impairment loss in respect of goodwill is not reversed. For other long-lived assets, an impairment loss is reversed only to the extent that the asset’s carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined, net of depreciation or amortization, if the impairment loss had not been recognized.
Impairment losses are recognized in profit and loss. Impairment losses recognized in respect of cash-generating units are allocated first to reduce the carrying amount of any goodwill allocated to the cash-generating unit (or group of CGUs), and subsequently to reduce the carrying amount of the other long-lived assets within the cash-generating unit (or group of CGUs) on a pro rata basis.
