In addition, even if less than a majority of the voting rights are acquired, HKFRS 10 provides that the parent can also have power over its subsidiary. When assessing whether such voting rights are sufficient to give it power, a parent should consider all facts and circumstances, including the size of the parent’s holding relative to those of other vote holders, potential voting rights held by the parent and rights arising from other contractual arrangements.
The following example demonstrates the case where a parent has power over an entity that gives it control over the entity, despite holding less than a majority of the voting rights.
Example 1
Big Ltd acquires 45% of the voting ordinary shares of Small Ltd. The remaining voting ordinary shares in Small Ltd are held by thousands of shareholders, none individually holding more than 1% of the voting shares.
Required:
Does Big Ltd have the power over Small Ltd?
Solution:
In this case, on the basis of the absolute size of its holding (45% voting rights) and the relative size of the other shareholdings (widely dispersed shareholding of not more than 1%), it is concluded that Big Ltd has a sufficiently dominant voting interest to give it power over Small Ltd.
To establish control, a parent not only needs to have the ability to use its power over the subsidiary, but must also have exposure, or rights, to variable returns from its involvement with the subsidiary when the parent’s returns from its involvement have the potential to vary as a result of the subsidiary’s performance. Returns can be in the forms of dividends, remuneration for servicing the subsidiary, residual interests in the subsidiary’s assets and liabilities on its liquidation, tax benefits, cost savings, etc.
Consolidation Procedures
The basic principle for the preparation of consolidated financial statements is to combine the like items of assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses of the parent and its subsidiaries on a line-by-line basis after certain consolidation adjustments – generally involving the elimination of intra-group transactions and balances.
Basic consolidation procedures involve the following steps:
(a) Eliminate intra-group transactions and balances
(b) Determine and measure non-controlling interests
(c) Determine and recognize goodwill arising from the acquisition of the subsidiary
(d) Prepare the consolidated financial statements by combining like items in the financial statements of the parent and its subsidiary