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Importance of consolidated financial statements
INTRODUCTION
Consolidated financial statements report the financial results of the parent company and all of its
subsidiary companies in one combined report. Some companies own just one subsidiary, while
others own many subsidiaries. The consolidated financial statement includes just one set of
financial results. As each subsidiary reports its financial results to the parent, the accounting staff
at the parent company gathers the individual financial results, eliminates intercompany financial
transactions and consolidates the numbers into one statement. Several benefits exist for companies
who create consolidated financial statements.
Consolidated financial statements combine the balance sheets, income statements and cash flow
statements of two or more companies or business units. They are often presented for companies
that have one or more subsidiaries to show an overview of the entire operation. During the
consolidation process under generally accepted accounting principles, activity between the
companies disappears. A parent's investment in its subsidiary would be removed along with the
matching equity on the subsidiary's books. Any inter-company sales would be erased as would the
related cost of goods sold on the subsidiary's income statement. Consolidated financial statements
can give readers a misguided sense of profitability and financial stability in the absence of non-
consolidated information.
The following are some usefulness of consolidated financial statement:
1. Considerations
Without consolidated financial statements the process of evaluating a company for investment or
financing purposes would be a long complex affair that might altogether miss important assets or
liabilities. In fact, many of the arguments that occur between company management, accounting
and auditing at year end involve how the consolidation of reports should be done in order to give
the most accurate picture of the company's financial health. It is the auditor's job to make sure this
consolidation of accounting reports accurately reflects the true condition of the company.
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2 Significance
Growing a company often involves buying out the competition to acquire their customers and
expanding business through adding new products, services and technology. These additions to a
company's offering line usually means purchasing smaller companies that service particular niches
through their own product lines or technologies. The subsidiary companies normally continue to
operate as separate companies under the control of the parent company but according to accounting
rules each must maintain separate accounting records. These separate accounting records are then
consolidated with the parent company's accounting records to produce the consolidated finances.
3 Hides Inter-company Sales
All inter-company transactions are removed in a consolidation. On one hand, this presents a truer
view of the companies by showing only financial activity with non-related parties. However, it also
hides the level of inter-company transactions. If related companies spend most of their time and
resources selling products or services in the group, an outside investor will not be able to assess
transfer prices or profit-shifting in the group. Both of these things can be manipulated by
companies and can affect income taxes. Consolidation hides the extent of the inter-company
activity.
4. Function
It would be difficult for an investor or financial analyst to gather together all the accounting reports
of a parent company and its many subsidiaries in order to get an idea of the financial health of the
total enterprise, so parent companies are now required to report their finances on a consolidated
basis. Occasionally the parent will make a separate report of its own finances, but that cannot stand
alone and must be accompanied by the consolidated report.
5. Benefits
The ultimate benefit of consolidated financial statements should be ease of understanding and
analysis of a company's financial condition for investors, creditors, vendors and anyone else who
needs to know how secure the company is with respect to being able to pay its bills and continue as
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a profitable enterprise. However, a more sinister benefit of consolidated finances is that they can be
manipulated to hide financial problems. It is extremely difficult to ascertain from these statements
whether there are hidden problems and exactly where they are in the enterprise. The FASB
(Financial Accounting Standards Board) regularly visits this subject to correct definitions and
requirements that might serve as loopholes for companies wishing to hide losses and liabilities.
The IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) is also working to create definitions and
rules that will make evaluation easier and more reliable when examining the financial reports of
foreign companies and companies with offshore subsidiaries.
The following are some limitations of consolidated financial statements:
1. Lack of Subsidiary Information
The nature of consolidated financial statements is that a group of companies is viewed as one
entity. By this assumption's nature, the details of the individual companies are not presented. In
some cases, this is not important, as some subsidiaries may not be material to the entire company's
operations and results. In other cases, the amalgamation of financial results can hide unprofitable
subsidiaries and ventures. While the company in whole may be performing well, consolidated
statements may not show the entire picture.
2. Elimination of Intercompany Transactions
Generally accepted accounting principles require the elimination of intercompany transactions
upon consolidation. Because of this rule, investors are unable to ascertain the flow of funds
between subsidiaries. This could be important in determining which sections of the company are
viable in the long term. Furthermore, in situations where subsidiaries operate using different
functional currencies, these eliminations can lead to complex accounting and tax issues that may be
in accordance with accounting principles, but may be confusing to even seasoned investors.
3. Higher Group Materiality
When looking at a company on a consolidated basis, the threshold for determining if accounting
misstatements are material is generally higher. For example, if a company had 10 subsidiaries that
each had $1 million in annual sales, a $10,000 sale would be more important to those subsidiaries
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on an individual basis than to the group as a whole. Because of this, companies and auditors need
to implement controls to ensure that the financial statements are fairly presented taken as a whole.
This may mean that companies need to reconsider an appropriate level of accuracy in the financial
statements to reflect an acceptable amount of misstatement. Many times this amounts is between
the subsidiary and group level of accuracy.
4. Significant Influence vs. Control
A major limitation in the presentation of consolidated financial statements is the creation of
loopholes related to the consolidation of joint ventures, variable interest entities, and other special
purpose entities. While revisions in accounting standards have started to address these issues, the
rules of consolidation have allowed unscrupulous companies to hide billions of dollars of debt
from investors over the last couple of decades, by creating entities that they do not directly control,
but only influence. While the accounting for these entities is complex, investors should be aware
that the phenomenon exists and should be vigilant if the performance of their investment appears
too good to be true.
5. Misconceptions
Consolidated financial statements do not always give a more accurate picture of the financial
health of an enterprise because the individual accounting reports from the subsidiaries do not show
up anywhere but in the notes section of the consolidated finances. This makes it possible to hide
problems in the subsidiary reports, which is how Enron managed to hide the losses and liabilities
some of its failed projects generated. It just buried them in obscure subsidiaries created for the
purpose of hiding certain financial problems.
References:www.ehow.com
investopedia.com
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