Mandatory Preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements

According to the new Companies Act 2013, all listed and unlisted companies, having one or more subsidiaries, including associate companies and joint ventures must compulsorily prepare the Consolidated Financial Statements (CFS). Section 129 of this Act mandates preparing the CFS in the same structure as the separate financial statements of the holding companies. This will provide the holding companies’ stakeholders with transparency about the companies’ businesses and market worth. Thus, all private and unlisted companies having subsidiaries, which have previously never prepared the CFS, must prepare their CFS in adherence with this mandate.

Holding companies must present their subsidiaries’ CFS in the Annual General Meetings along with separate financial statements. Companies must also attach the important features of the subsidiaries’ financial statements to their Annual Reports in the prescribed format.

The Auditors of the holding companies shall also have access to the financials of the subsidiaries.

To get more details on the new Companies Act 2013, refer to

http://www.mca.gov.in/MinistryV2/companiesact.html