ComplianceSME

Ireland · The accounting Schedules

Schedule 4: consolidation, exclusions, acquisition and merger accounting and the group notes

the Companies Act 2014 · Schedule 4

Where the problem is

Non-coterminous year ends are a consolidation problem before they are a disclosure problem. Where the financial year of a subsidiary undertaking dealt with in the group financial statements differs from that of the holding company, Schedule 4 paragraph 3(2) governs what must be done. Consolidating a subsidiary's own statements for a different period without meeting the paragraph produces group statements that do not comply.

The group statements must present the position at a single date. Group financial statements must show the assets, liabilities and financial position as at the end of the financial year in the manner Schedule 4 paragraph 10(1) requires. The identifiable assets and liabilities of an undertaking acquired must be included in the consolidated balance sheet as Schedule 4 paragraph 14(2) requires.

What the Companies Act 2014 requires

Schedule 4 sets the rules for consolidating the group financial statements and the exclusions from consolidation. It sets acquisition accounting and the treatment of goodwill, and the merger method and proportional consolidation where those are used. Where an acquisition has taken place in the financial year and the merger method has been adopted, the notes must give what Schedule 4 paragraph 17 requires.

The Schedule also sets the treatment of associated undertakings and the notes to the group financial statements, including the further notes on acquisitions and disposals. In respect of the aggregate of the amounts shown in the group balance sheet under creditors, the information Schedule 4 paragraph 26 requires must be stated.

The tool that solves it

Files 205, 206, 207, 208 and 209 of the IE-COMPANY package cover this situation. File 205 works through consolidation and the exclusions from it. File 206 works through acquisition accounting and goodwill. File 207 works through merger accounting and proportional consolidation. File 208 works through associated undertakings and the group notes, and File 209 works through the further notes on acquisitions and disposals.

This situation is covered by these files from the pack IE-COMPANY

Files for this situation

Free · this situation only

The working files named above cover this situation. You take them from your free ComplianceSME account when this situation arises, and you come back to the site for the next situation.

You take the starter pack first: PRINT_ME_FIRST.pdf, the training file T_TRAIN, the four volumes of the reference file T_HELP, and File 1, which builds the ENTITY_PASSPORT.md that the other files require. The situations open in your account once you have taken the starter pack.

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The free system

Free · with a free account

The ComplianceSME system for the Companies Act 2014 is free. It needs a free ComplianceSME account and runs inside your own Claude account. It holds 215 working files, the training file, the reference file in four volumes, the regulation analysis, the final review with the gap analysis, and the report assembly. You take the starter pack first, and after that the files for one situation at a time, as each situation arises.

The starter pack holds PRINT_ME_FIRST.pdf, the training file T_TRAIN, the four volumes of the reference file T_HELP, and File 1, which builds the ENTITY_PASSPORT.md that every other working file requires. Print PRINT_ME_FIRST.pdf and read it before any other file.

The system runs in your own Claude account. Upload the files, type START, and the system asks you one question at a time until it has built your documentation, citing the section at every point.

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ComplianceSME tracks the Companies Act 2014 and issues update files through the membership, so that you are never working from a superseded version. Membership

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