Discussing Consolidation of Investments

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to outline the purchase method and the log for first consolidation using the rule-based approach as well as the activity-based approach

Consolidation of Investments

Consolidation of Investment Concepts

Your corporation has many subsidiaries and you need to produce consolidated financial statements. As the elimination process is very complex, you want to automate this process as much as possible.

Consolidation of investments (C/I) deals with:

  • The elimination of investment on investors and equity of their subsidiaries (investee units).

  • It calculates the non-controlling interests (NCI) of the eliminated investment and equity and the differential (goodwill) amounts.

  • It reclassifies the minority portion of the equities reported by the subsidiaries.

  • The system performs these calculations and postings based on reported data for investment and equity and group-dependent investment share percentages.

Consolidation of Investments – Key Terms

  • Parent (holding):The consolidating entity.

  • Purchase method: Generally used if ownership is greater than 50%. This is used when the parent unit of a consolidation group exercises a dominating influence over an investee. Under the purchase method, the subsidiary’s trial balance is included in the group’s financial statements.
  • Equity method : Generally used when ownership is less than 50% and higher than 20%. Financial data of an equity unit is not taken into account in the consolidated financial statements.

    Only changes in the equity of the company are taken into consideration; this affects the investment value stated in the consolidated balance sheet.

  • Direct share:The percentage (%) ownership between the investor and the investee.
  • Group share: The total percentage (%) ownership between the higher level holding and the investee. This includes indirect ownership like:
    • Company A owns 80% of company B.

    • Company B owns 90% of company C.

    • The group share for the company C in this case is 72% (80% x 90%).

    • Group share data can be entered manually or can be uploaded.

  • Non-controlling interest: The percentage (%) portion of the investee not owned by the group.
  • Goodwill: The difference between the purchase price and the fair market value of the investee's equity.

Rule-Based Versus Activity-Based Consolidation of Investments (COI)

In the on public cloud system the Rule-based approach is the standard approach for Consolidation of Investments! If you want to use the activity-based approach you have to set up a ticket.

In the private cloud system and the on premise system both, the Rule-based approach and the Activty-based approach for consolidation of investments are available.

Note

If you want to use both approaches in your system, you have to set up one consolidation version per COI approach. Both approaches can't be used in the same consolidation version! Furthermore you have to set up two different consolidation monitors, i. e. one per consolidation version. In each of the consolidation monitors you can either assign the rule-based COI consolidation task or the activity-based COI consolidation task!
This figure explains which task to use for Consolidation of Investments if you work with the activity-based or rule-based COI approach.

Activity-Based COI – Key Points

  • Supported COI Logic:

    • Purchase and equity method
    • First consolidation
    • Subsequent consolidation
    • Step acquisition
    • Capital increase and decrease
    • Partial and total divestiture
    • Partial and total transfer
    • Distribution of dividends
    • Horizontal and vertical merger.
    • Method change
    • Parent change.
  • Built-in elimination posting logic.

Note

If you use the activity-based consolidation of investments, FS Items are determined via predefined system setup.

Rule-Based COI – Key Points

  • Supported COI logic:

    • Purchase and equity method
    • First consolidation
    • Subsequent consolidation
    • Capital increase
    • Acquisition of further interest or partial disposal without change in method
    • Consolidation Method Changes
    • Total divestiture.
  • Posting logic defined by reclassification rules:

    • Pre-delivered methods are available.
    • Customers can create their own rules.

Purchase Method – First Consolidation: Example

The following figure gives a calculation example of the first consolidation using the purchase method.

The figure gives an example for first consolidation including the elimination postings. In this scenario consolidation unit FR00 - France is consolidated into consolidation group Europe. The ownership percentage is 60 %. This means that the Purchase Method is relevant for consolidation. Next to the elimination postings, the minorities in equity and the goodwill are calculated.

Using the activity-based approach the consolidation logic is automatically executed. No set up is necessary.

The screenshot shows the protocol, when the Activity-based Consolidation of Investments is executed. The elimination postings refer to the example shown before.

Using the rule-based approach you have to set up a reclassification rule with several sequences in order to define the consolidation logic by yourself or use the content reclassification rules and sequences.

This screenshot shows the protocol of Rule-based Consolidation of Investments. The elimination logic has to be set up in several sequences of a reclassification rule. The debit-to-credit table in this figure explains how the goodwill is being calculated according to the reclassification rule and how it can be verified in the protocol.

Summary

  • Two approaches available: rule-based and activity-based consolidation of investments.
  • Purchase method eliminates investment against subsidiary equity, calculating goodwill and NCI.
  • Activity-based uses built-in logic; rule-based requires reclassification rule configuration.
  • Both methods support first consolidation, subsequent consolidation, and various ownership changes.