FS6. Financial Statements for Groups – including subsidiaries, associates, segments, business units, profit & cost centres and joint ventures
Self-paced, whenever and wherever you like
FS6. Financial Statements for Groups – including subsidiaries, associates, segments, business units, profit & cost centres and joint ventures
Financial Statements reflect the business structures they are reporting on so different business structures result in different Financial Statements. Group and consolidated Financial Statements have items in them that other Financial Statements don’t. What qualifies as a subsidiary or an associate may surprise you and they are usually different from business units while segments can be different again. And cost and profit centre reports are also different. And then there are joint ventures.
Using clear, colourful diagrams and by translating jargon into plain English, this course gives you a clear understanding of Financial Statements for Business Structures by explaining:
- In a nutshell, what group, consolidated accounts show, what becomes visible in them and what disappears
- What subsidiaries and associates are and why it’s often not that clear cut
- Why subsidiary, business unit and business segment Financial Statements can be different – sometimes, it’s three dimensional
- The reason for cost and profit centres, why they shouldn’t be viewed in isolation and how their financial statements are different
- The different ways joint ventures are treated
This approximately one-hour course, which includes several quizzes, explains Financial Statements for Business Structures in plain English. You can make notes on the accompanying booklet and there’s a Glossary of Terms for easy reference afterwards. You get a certificate when you’ve completed the course. You should be familiar with Income Statements/Profit & Loss Accounts (course FS1), Balance Sheets (course FS2) and Cash Flow Statements (course FS3) before taking this course.
Learning outcomes:
- Properly understanding what group, consolidated, business unit, segment, cost & profit centres and joint venture Financial Statements are telling you and being able to make better informed business decisions as a result
- Being confident in discussions about Financial Statements of all types of business structure
- Knowing that you won’t be embarrassed in discussions about Financial Statements of all types
- Being able to ask deeper, more searching questions and understand if someone is trying to ‘pull the wool over your eyes’