Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. General form of registration statement for all companies including face-amount certificate companies

General form of registration statement for all companies including face-amount certificate companies

Fair Value Measurements

Fair Value Measurements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

4.	Fair Value Measurements

ASC Topic 820 Fair Value Measurement defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or be paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Pieris AG applies the following fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value into three levels and bases the categorization within the hierarchy upon the lowest level of input that is available and significant to the fair value measurement.

Level 1 inputs are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 utilizes quoted market prices in markets that are not active, broker or dealer quotations, or alternative pricing sources with reasonable levels of price transparency.

Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs for the asset or liability in which there is little, if any, market activity for the asset or liability at the measurement date.

Pieris AG’s cash equivalents consist of highly liquid money market funds and are measured at fair value on a recurring basis. These funds are classified as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy because they are valued using quoted prices for the periods ended September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013. The carrying amounts of $198,493 and $3,307,520 as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively, equal the fair value of the cash equivalents.

The Company’s other financial instruments include debt instruments (convertible stockholder loan and bank loan) and are classified as Level 2 within the fair value hierarchy. The fair value of these instruments was determined using the discounted cash flow method based on contractual cash flows and the current rate at which debt with similar terms could be issued. The fair values for these debt instruments approximated carrying values as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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