Consolidated statement of cash flows

Authors
Table of Contents

No distinction is made between single entities and groups for the purpose of preparing cash flows and there are no specific requirements to follow in order to prepare the consolidated statement of cash flows. Cash inflows and outflows would consequently be treated similarly to income and expenses. This means that, consolidated statement of cash flows should reflect only the movements of cash into and out of the group – i.e. presented as those of a single economic entity. Cash flows which have occurred between group entities should be eliminated (e.g. intragroup purchases and sales, dividends paid/received, interest and financing arrangements, etc). On the contrary, transactions with unconsolidated subsidiaries, non-controlling interest, associates and joint ventures are not eliminated.

For the classification of individual items of cash inflows and outflows, rules of IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows (IFRS) or ASC 230 Statement of Cash Flows (US GAAP) shall be followed.

Preparing consolidated statement of cash flows

Similarly to preparing consolidated statements of financial position and comprehensive income, consolidated statement of cash flows should be composed by aggregating the cash flows of each individual subsidiary and eliminating any intra-group cash movements.

It is also possible to prepare cash flows at a more consolidated level. For example, by starting with the disclosures in the consolidated statement of financial position and comprehensive income and taking into account any necessary eliminations and additional information related to external cash flows of each subsidiary. An entity having chosen to report its cash flows under the direct method would use such information for the purpose of deriving the value of its major classes of gross cash receipts and payments. Whereas an entity adopting indirect method for presenting its operating cash flows would use such information for calculating the movements of operating receivables and payables, inventories and other non-cash adjustments reported within operating activities.

Reconciling relevant headings in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income to the movements in the consolidated financial position can also be used for determining the cash flows from investing and financing activities. Although, subsidiaries would need to provide detailed information in order to ensure correct classification of specific cash movements and to avoid gross cash flows from being netted off. For example, additional information regarding receivables and payables would be needed to identify movements that have occurred in operating, investing and financing receivables and payables.

Preparing consolidated statement of cash flows with foreign subsidiaries

Using the consolidated statement of financial position movements and consolidated statement of comprehensive income together with additional information from subsidiaries as the basis for preparing consolidated statement of cash flows can be applied in the groups where the parent and all subsidiaries have the same functional currency.

For groups with foreign subsidiaries, that method would need to be used taking extra care in order to ensure appropriate treatment of exchange differences. It would be more reasonable to take the below steps when preparing consolidated cash flow statement where foreign subsidiaries are involved:

  • Prepare separate statements of cash flows for each entity in the group to be consolidated (i.e. parent and all the subsidiaries).
  • Translate the statement of cash flows of a foreign subsidiary into the presentation currency of the consolidated financial statements using the same exchange rate as was used in the preparation of comprehensive income (either transaction date or average).
  • Due to using different exchange rates in the translation of cash movements and SOFP (Statement of Financial Position), difference arises between the sum of opening cash balance of cash and net cash movement per year and the closing balance of cash. This difference shall be added to a separate line “effect of exchange rate changes on cash” in the SOCF (Statement of Cash Flow) of that individual foreign subsidiary.
  • Combine individual statements of cash flows.
  • Make eliminations for intragroup transactions.
  • Add together the combined SOCF and eliminations.

Using consolidated statement of financial position would not give a correct result of cash flows, as the financial position is translated to the presentation currency using the closing rate and thus incorrect translation rates would be used in the preparation of consolidated statement of cash flows. Line items in the consolidated statement of cash flows would then include also effects of changes in foreign exchange rates, which need to be reported separately (see point 3 above).

Illustrative example – Consolidated statement of cash flows with foreign subsidiary (under IFRS)

A German parent has a 100% US subsidiary. German Parent prepares the consolidated financial statements under IFRS in EUR. Functional currency of the US Subsidiary is USD.

On 15th December the US subsidiary paid dividends of 2000 USD to the Parent.

On the same day a German Parent purchased goods amounting to 3000 USD from the US subsidiary. The cost of theses goods for the subsidiary amounted to 2400 USD. These goods were still in the inventories of the parent at the year end and they were unpaid.

Relevant conversion rates (USD to EUR):

31 December 2021 0,8829
31 December 2022 0,9327
15 December 2022 0,9367
Average 2022 0,9515

SOFP and SOCI of the German Parent:

SOFP (EUR) 31 December 2021 31 December 2022
Cash 10 000 20 500
Trade receivables 13 000 18 000
Inventory 12 000 17 000
Property, plant and equipment 18 000 30 000
Total Assets 53 000 85 500
 
Trade payables 8 000 7 000
Non-current liabilities 14 000 20 000
Total Liabilities 22 000 27 000
 
Share capital 10 000 10 000
Reserves 1 000 1 000
Retained earnings 20 000 47 500
Total Equity 31 000 58 500
Total Liabilities and Equity 53 000 85 500
SOCI for the year ended 31 December 2022
USD
Revenue 300 000
Cost of goods sold -200 000
Depreciation expense -10 000
Administrative expenses -48 000
Other operating expenses -12 000
Operating profit / -loss 30 000
Dividends received 1 873
Interest expense -2 873
Profit before tax 29 000
Income tax expense -1 500
Profit for the year 27 500

SOFP and SOCI of the US Subsidiary:

SOFP (USD) 31 December 2021 31 December 2022
Cash 8 000 7 000
Trade receivables 3 000 7 500
Inventory 10 000 8 000
Property, plant and equipment 19 000 25 000
Total Assets 40 000 47 500
 
Trade payables 6 000 5 000
Non-current liabilities 13 000 15 000
Total Liabilities 19 000 20 000
 
Share capital 6 000 6 000
Reserves 600 600
Retained earnings 14 400 20 900
Total Equity 21 000 27 500
Total Liabilities and Equity 40 000 47 500
SOCI for the year ended 31 December 2022
EUR
Revenue 200 000
Cost of goods sold -135 000
Depreciation expense -5 000
Administrative expenses -43 000
Other operating expenses -6 000
Operating profit / -loss 11 000
Interest expense -1 500
Profit before tax 9 500
Income tax expense -1 000
Profit for the year 8 500

Preparation of consolidated SOCF

Steps to be taken as indicated in the table below:

  1. Prepare individual SOCF of parent
  2. Prepare individual SOCF of subsidiary in functional currency
  3. Translate the subsidiary’s SOCF to the presentation currency of the consolidated financial statements
  4. Combine the two SOCFs
SOCF for the year ended 31 December 2022
Step 1 2 3 4
German Parent (EUR) US Subsidiary (USD) Rate US Subsidiary (EUR) Combined
Profit before tax 29 000 9 500 n/a 9 030 38 031
Adjustments:
Depreciation 10 000 5 000 0,9515 4 758 14 758
Finance income -1 873 00 -1873,4
Finance expenses 2 873 1 500 0,9515 1 427 4 300
Working capital changes:
Decrease/(increase) in trade receivables -5 000 -4 500 0,9515 -4 282 -9 282
Decrease in inventories -5 000 2 000 0,9515 1 903 -3 097
Increase/(decrease) in trade and payables -1 000 -1 000 0,9515 -952 -1 952
Interest paid -2 873 -1 500 0,9515 -1 427 -4 300
Dividends received 1 873 00 1 873
Dividends paid 0 -2 000 0,9367 -1 873 -1 873
Income tax paid -1 500 -1 000 0,9515 -952 -2 452
Net cash flows from operating activities 26 500 8 0007 633 34 133
Purchase of PPE -22 000 -11 000 0,9515 -10 467 -32 467
Net cash used in investing activities -22 000 -11 000-10 467 -32 467
Proceeds from non-current liabilites 6 000 2 000 0,9515 1 903 7 903
Net cash from financing activities 6 000 2 0001 903 7 903
 
Net increase/(decrease) of cash 10 500 -1 000-931 9 570
Net foreign exchange difference396 396
Cash at 1 January 10 000 8 000 0,8829 7 063 17 063
Cash 31 December 20 500 7 000 0,9327 6 528 27 029

Once combined SOCF has been prepared, incorporate elimination adjustments:

  1. Eliminate dividends paid by the US subsidiary to the German Parent. Dividends received impact the finance income of the German Parent and consequently the profit before tax – both overstated. Therefore elimination shall be booked to these line items in the SOCF. Furthermore actual dividends paid and received must be eliminated.
  2. Eliminate intragroup balances arising from the purchases made by the German Parent. In the US Subsidiary’s SOCF the balance of 3000 USD has been translated into EUR using the 2022 average rate, thus the elimination entry against receivables movements is booked in the amount of 3000 USD * 0,9515 = 2855 EUR. In the German Parent SOFP this balance is translated into EUR using the closing rate, thus elimination entry against payables movement is booked in the amount of 3000 USD * 0,9327 = 2798 EUR. The difference of 56 EUR between these entries arises due to different exchange rates used and thus adjustment to line “Net foreign exchange difference” must be made.
  3. In relation to the previous point, unrealised gain from the transaction is included within the group’s results as the inventories have not been sold by the German Parent. I.e. profit before tax of the US Subsidiary and inventories of the German Parent are overstated. Therefore elimination should be booked to these lines. Unrealised profit amounts to 3000 USD – 2400 USD = 600 USD. This is translated using the actual transaction date rate (i.e. the rate used by the German Parent in its SOFP to convert the inventories and US Subsidiary in SOCI (Statement of Comprehensive Income) to convert the intragroup sale and cost of sale results into EUR) 600 USD * 0,9367 = 562 EUR.
Consolidated SOCF for the year ended 31 December 2022
Eliminations
EUR Combined 1. Dividends 2. Intragroup balances 3. Unrealised profit Consolidated SOCF
Profit before tax 38 031 -1 873-562 35 595
Adjustments:0
Depreciation 14 75814 758
Finance income -1 873 1 8730
Finance expenses 4 3004 300
Working capital changes:0
Decrease/(increase) in trade receivables -9 2822 855-6 427
Decrease in inventories -3 097562 -2 535
Increase/(decrease) in trade and payables -1 952-2 798-4 750
Interest paid -4 300-4 300
Dividends paid -1 873 1 8730
Income tax paid -2 452-2 452
Net cash flows from operating activities 34 133 0 56 0 34 190
Purchase of PPE -32 467-32 467
Net cash used in investing activities -32 467 0 0 0 -32 467
Proceeds from non-current liabilites 7 9037 903
Net cash from financing activities 7 903 0 0 0 7 903
 
Net increase/(decrease) of cash 9 570 0 56 0 9 626
Net foreign exchange difference 396-56340
Cash at 1 January 17 06317 063
Cash 31 December 27 029 0 0 0 27 029

Note that under the US GAAP dividends paid would need to be classified under the financing activities (no classification choice). Furthermore, dividends received, and interest paid and received are only allowed to be reported under the operating activities. IFRS gives a choice between operating and financing activities for the classification of dividends paid/received and interest paid/received.

Rephop helps with preparing consolidated statements of cash flows by providing a step-by-step process to consolidate the cash flows of each subsidiary, eliminating any intra-group cash movements, and classifying individual items of cash inflows and outflows according to IAS 7 (IFRS) or ASC 230 (US GAAP). For groups with foreign subsidiaries, Rephop guides the user through preparing separate statements of cash flows, translating them into the presentation currency, and making necessary eliminations to ensure an accurate reflection of cash flows as a single economic entity. Rephop also takes into account the effects of exchange rate changes on cash flows and ensures that they are reported separately.