Overview
IFRS 10 requires the parent companies to prepare the consolidated financial statements. However, in the following situations the parent company is not required to prepare the consolidated financial statements;
1 Consolidated financial statements items of the parent company and subsidiary combine altogether to present it as single line items in the consolidated financial statements. This means that assets, liabilities, income, and expenses of parent and subsidiary companies are added all together and present as a single line item in the consolidated financial statements
2 Control seems to be established when one entity exerts significant influence over the other company by means of influencing its economic decisions and has the right to participate in the voting rights of the acquired company. In straightforward cases, the control seems to exist when one company acquired 50% or more shares/interest in another company
3 If a parent company acquires a subsidiary with 100% then the entire investment of the parent company in the subsidiary shall be canceled out with the subsidiary share capital and equity reserve. This is because the purchase of 100% share capital of a subsidiary gives full entitlement to the share capital and reserve of the subsidiary company
4 If one company owns money to another company in the same group then it constitutes receivable for one company but liability for another company in the same group. The intercompany receivable and payable balance shall be canceled out with each other because such balances are not owed to or owed by outsiders
5 It is important to note that the cancellation will not take place in the individual company’s books of account and individual company’s books of account will remain unaffected by this cancellation process. This process of cancellation only takes place while preparing the consolidated financial statements
Definitions
Group means the combination of the parent and subsidiary.
A parent company means an entity that controls one or more companies.
Consolidated financial statements items of the parent company and subsidiary combine altogether to present it as single line items in the consolidated financial statements. This means that assets, liabilities, income, and expenses of parent and subsidiary companies are added all together and present as a single line item in the consolidated financial statements.
Establishing Control
Control seems to be established when one entity exerts significant influence over the other company by means of influencing its economic decisions and has the right to participate in the voting rights of the acquired company. In straightforward cases, the control seems to exist when one company acquired 50% or more shares/interest in another company.
Group Statement of Financial Position at the Date of Acquisition
Group statement of financial position means that the individual items of the statement of financial position of different companies in a group are added altogether line by line in one statement of financial position which is called consolidated statement of financial position. This ensures that the consolidated statement of financial position shows only the true assets and liabilities of the companies in the group in a single statement of the financial position.
It should be noted that assets appearing in the statement of financial position of one group also appear as the liability of other groups so such intercompany shall be canceled to each other because such transactions are not to the outside parties but occurred within the group. These cancellations of intercompany transactions are necessary so that the group financial statements give a 100% true and fair view. The main items which need to cancel while preparing the group statement of financial position are as follows:
If a parent company acquires a subsidiary with 100% then the entire investment of the parent company in the subsidiary shall be canceled out with the subsidiary share capital and equity reserve. This is because the purchase of 100% share capital of a subsidiary gives full entitlement to the share capital and reserve of the subsidiary company.
If one company owns money to another company in the same group then it constitutes receivable for one company but liability for another company in the same group. The intercompany receivable and payable balance shall be canceled out with each other because such balances are not owed to or owed by outsiders.
It is important to note that the cancellation will not take place in the individual company’s books of account and individual company’s books of account will remain unaffected by this cancellation process. This process of cancellation only takes place while preparing the consolidated financial statements
Goodwill Arising on Consolidation
The amount paid by the parent company to acquire a subsidiary usually equals the fair value of the assets. However, in most cases the amount paid by the parent company for the acquisition of a subsidiary company exceeds the fair value of the assets due to the following reasons;
Group Statement of Financial Position in Subsequent Years
While preparing the consolidated financial statements at the end of the accounting period of the parent company the retained earnings figure of the subsidiary also changed since the date of acquisition. Such changes will be dealt with in the following ways;
Partly Owned Subsidiaries
If a parent company does not own 100% of the share capital of the subsidiary company then it means that some part of the company is owned by other parties which are called non-controlling shareholders or non-controlling interest. While preparing the consolidated financial statements all the assets and liabilities and income and expenses are added together as like the company is owning with 100% but then identify separately the subsidiary’s net assets which is attributable to the non-controlling shareholders. As per IFRS 10, this is to be presented in the consolidated financial statements as “non-controlling interest”.
Measurement of Non-Controlling Interest at Fair Value
Parent companies are allowed to measure the non-controlling interest in the following two ways;
Preference Shares
Ordinary shares belong to the ordinary shareholders of the company and preference shareholders are not the owners of a company and holding preference shares makes them a sort of creditors for a company because the preference shareholders cannot participate in the affairs of the company and in the voting of the company in general meetings. Therefore, the preference shares (if any) would be entitled to receive the shares in the assets equal to the nominal value of the preference shares in case of winding up the company. So companies while preparing the consolidated statement of financial position shall bear this fact in mind too and include the preference shares amount at full irrespective of the proportion of the acquisition while preparing the consolidated statement of financial position.
Elimination of Inter Group Balances
Intercompany balances shall be canceled out with each other’s while preparing the consolidated financial statements. Following are the examples of the intergroup balances which need to be eliminated in full while preparing the group financial statements;
Unrealized Profits
The transactions occurred between different companies in the same group usually take place at a profit and not at cost. In the case of intercompany transactions, it is supposed to be that there is no transaction occurred because such transactions are occurred between different companies in the same group, not to outsiders. Therefore, the profits charged on the intercompany transactions shall be eliminated in full while preparing the consolidated financial statements.
Reporting Period and Accounting Policies
This is important that the reporting period of the parent company and the subsidiary company shall be the same. However, if the reporting period of the parent company and the subsidiary company is different then the subsidiary company shall prepare the financial statements at the date of the reporting date of the parent company for the consolidation purpose. If this is impracticable to prepare the early financials by the subsidiary for the consolidation purpose then the subsidiary company shall make adjustments to the account balances and transactions that occurred between the date of the reporting period of the parent company and subsidiary company.
Furthermore, the parent company and the subsidiary company shall use uniform accounting policies so that the consolidated financial statements shall give a true and fair view. However, if a group company uses a different accounting policy then the accounting policies shall be adjusted in line with the parent company accounting policies for the consolidation purpose.
Disclosures
IFRS 12 – Disclosures of interest in other entities requires and entities to the information to enable the users of the financial statements to evaluate;