Financial Consolidation and Group Accounting: Business Combinations, Associates and Joint Ventures – London, 5–9 Jul 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Groups that acquire, restructure and invest across several entities often assemble their consolidated financial statements in fragile spreadsheets, where a missed intragroup balance, an unsupported goodwill figure or a wrongly classified investee turns into audit findings and late reporting. This Core Concept course in financial consolidation and group accounting takes experienced accountants through control assessment, acquisition accounting, non-controlling interests, ownership changes, joint arrangements, associates and foreign subsidiaries. Each participant builds a Multi-Entity Group Consolidation Workbook in Excel that produces a consolidated statement of financial position, profit or loss and cash flows.

Course Objectives:

• Determine the consolidation perimeter by testing control, joint control and significant influence over each investee in the group structure
• Account for business combinations using the acquisition method, including purchase price allocation, goodwill and bargain purchase gains
• Measure non-controlling interests and post-acquisition reserves and eliminate intragroup balances, transactions and unrealised profit
• Resolve step acquisitions, partial disposals and loss of control, and apply the equity method to associates and joint ventures
• Translate foreign subsidiaries into the group presentation currency and track the cumulative translation reserve
• Build and document an Excel consolidation workbook that supports the group reporting close and audit review

Target Audience:

• Managers who prepare consolidated financial statements for groups with several subsidiaries
• Financial controllers accountable for acquisitions, disposals and investment accounting within a group
• Audit managers who review group consolidation files, eliminations and goodwill balances
• Reporting managers who set group close timetables and subsidiary reporting pack instructions
• Transaction and corporate finance managers who need the accounting effect of acquisitions and restructurings

Course Outline:

Day 1: Group Structures, Control and the Consolidation Perimeter

• IFRS 10 Control Test: Power, Exposure to Variable Returns and the Linkage Element
• De Facto Control, Potential Voting Rights and Protective Rights Analysis
• Structured Entities and Principal Versus Agent Decision Checklist
• Group Structure Chart and Consolidation Perimeter Register
• Investee Classification Decision Tree: Subsidiary, Joint Arrangement, Associate or Financial Asset

Day 2: Business Combinations: Acquisition Method and Goodwill

• IFRS 3 Definition of a Business and Identification of the Acquirer
• Consideration Transferred: Contingent and Deferred Consideration Schedules
• Purchase Price Allocation Worksheet for Identifiable Assets and Assumed Liabilities
• Full Goodwill Versus Proportionate Share Measurement of Non-Controlling Interests
• Bargain Purchase Reassessment and Measurement Period Adjustments

Day 3: Consolidation Mechanics and Intragroup Eliminations

• Cancellation of the Parent Investment Against Subsidiary Equity at Acquisition
• Post-Acquisition Reserves and the Non-Controlling Share of Profit and OCI
• Intragroup Balance Matching Matrix for Receivables, Payables and Loans
• Unrealised Profit Elimination on Inventory and Asset Transfers Between Group Entities
• Intragroup Dividends, Management Charges and Mid-Year Acquisition Time Apportionment

Day 4: Ownership Changes, Joint Arrangements, Associates and Foreign Subsidiaries

• Step Acquisitions: Remeasuring the Previously Held Equity Interest
• Partial Disposals Without Loss of Control and Disposal Gain on Loss of Control
• IFRS 11 Joint Operations Versus Joint Ventures: Rights to Assets or to Net Assets
• IAS 28 Equity Method: Share of Results, Upstream and Downstream Transactions
• Foreign Subsidiary Translation: Closing Rate, Average Rate and Translation Reserve Recycling

Day 5: Consolidation Workbook Build and Group Reporting Close

• Excel Workbook Architecture: Entity Trial Balances, Chart of Accounts Mapping and Adjustment Layers
• Elimination Journal Register and Consolidated Statement of Financial Position Build
• Consolidated Cash Flow Statement: Acquisitions, Disposals and Dividends to Non-Controlling Interests
• IFRS 12 Interests in Other Entities Disclosure Drafting from Workbook Output
• Group Close Timetable, Subsidiary Reporting Pack and Workbook Peer Review

Skills You Will Gain:

• Control Assessment
• Purchase Price Allocation
• Goodwill Measurement
• Non-Controlling Interest Accounting
• Intragroup Elimination
• Equity Method Accounting
• Foreign Currency Translation
• Consolidation Workbook Design

Why Attend This Course:

• Leave with a working Multi-Entity Group Consolidation Workbook, tested on a group with subsidiaries, an associate, a joint venture and a foreign operation
• Settle the judgement calls behind the consolidation perimeter before auditors challenge them
• Handle mid-year acquisitions, step acquisitions and disposals with a documented calculation trail
• Compare how groups in manufacturing, retail, real estate and services organise their consolidation close

Conclusion:

Reliable group accounts depend on getting the perimeter right, supporting every goodwill and non-controlling interest figure, and eliminating every intragroup flow. The course moves from control assessment and acquisition accounting through elimination mechanics to ownership changes, joint arrangements, associates and foreign subsidiaries. The final day brings this together in a Multi-Entity Group Consolidation Workbook, giving participants a structured, auditable model and a close process they can apply to their own group from the next reporting cycle.