Consolidation set-up

Consolidation combines the books of the companies in a group into one set of figures, as if the group were a single company. mcomtask reads each member’s balances (with their consent), translates them into the group’s currency, adds them up, and removes what the companies owe and sell to each other. The result is a run: see Consolidation runs.

This page is for people your administrator has given access to consolidation, in the organization that owns the group. You find it under Manage → Group & consolidation → Consolidation. Adding inputs and approving them are separate permissions, so two people are always involved.

Caution

Every run carries the notice: “Management consolidation: not statutory group accounts. The accounting and legal content has not been confirmed by an adviser.” Use runs for management purposes. Your adviser must confirm anything you file or publish.

The words you will meet

Word	Meaning
Group	The companies in the group register, with a presentation currency
Member	A company in the group that is an organization on mcomtask and has given consent
Parent	Where a run’s scope starts, normally the owning organization
Full consolidation	A controlled company (subsidiary): all its figures are added in
Equity method	A company you significantly influence but do not control (associate): only your share of its result is brought in
Excluded	Taken out of the run, with a recorded reason
Non-controlling interests	The part of a subsidiary owned by people outside the group
Eliminations	Entries that cancel what group companies owe to, buy from and pay each other, and the parent’s investment against the subsidiary’s equity
Reporting line	A line of the group’s own chart, such as “Trade receivables”. Each member’s accounts are mapped to one.
Provisional / Final	A run is PROVISIONAL while anything is missing or unconfirmed, and FINAL when nothing is

Whether a company is a subsidiary or an associate comes from the register: an approved assessment first, otherwise a presumption from the percentages. A presumption makes the run provisional.

Choose a group

The Consolidation page lists your groups and their currency. Select one to open its workspace, which has four tabs: Runs, Chart and mapping, Inputs and Settings.

Chart and mapping

Reporting lines are the group’s chart. Select Add reporting line and give a Code (letters, digits, dot, dash or underscore, up to 40 characters), its Kind (Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense), a Role if a rule needs it (such as Share capital, Retained earnings, Goodwill or Non-controlling interests), and Name (English), optionally Name (Bahasa Malaysia).

Account maps tie each member’s Account code to a Reporting line from an Effective from date. “Each member account maps to one reporting line. A map counts in a run only after a second person approves it.” Add one with Add account map. A map waiting shows Awaiting a second person; someone else selects Approve.

Suggest maps saves typing. Choose the Member organization, the Period from and As of dates, and select Find suggestions. It matches the member’s accounts against the parent’s chart. Tick the rows you want (or Select all), select Review … selected, check the list, and select Write … map(s). They are written unapproved, for a second person to approve. Accounts with no suggestion lists what you must map by hand.

Inputs

Inputs are the facts a run needs that are not in anyone’s books. Each section has its own add button, and every input must be approved by a second person before any run uses it. A row shows Approved, Awaiting a second person or Ended.

Section	What you record
Entity treatments	Take an entity out of the run (Exclude) with a Rationale, or mark it Import (the screen says “Import is recorded but not yet available”; see Imported trial balances below and ask your administrator)
Acquisitions	When a subsidiary was bought: Acquisition date, Consideration, Acquired net assets (blank to read them from its ledger), fair value adjustment, Non-controlling interest basis, goodwill impairment
Associate inputs	An associate’s Result for the period, other comprehensive income, dividends and impairment, when its books cannot be read
Adjustments	Accounting policy differences, and unrealized profit on stock or an asset sold between group companies
Opening positions	“The retained earnings a group’s first run starts from.”
Imported trial balances	The approved final trial balance of a controlled subsidiary that is not on mcomtask, in the group’s currency only
Preference shares outside the group	The preference dividend outsiders are entitled to for the period
Cash flow classes	Which part of the cash flow statement each reporting line belongs to
Audited trial balances	Each subsidiary’s signed audited figures, compared with the books on each run. Advisory only.

The trial balance sections take one account per line, pasted in, as the hint under the field describes.

Settings

“Past runs keep the values they used.”

Setting	What it does
Parent entity	“Where a run’s scope starts.” Normally The entity of the owning organization (default).
Inter-company tolerance	The unexplained difference a run may carry before it is provisional, for example 1.00
Group standard chart	How many top levels of this organization’s own chart every subsidiary must follow, or No standard

Select Save settings.

Each member also marks which of its customers and suppliers are group companies, so inter-company balances can be matched: see Group consent.