Understanding Group Structure In Financial Statements

By James Leong

When you pick up an annual report, you would likely come across terms like ‘company’,’subsidiaries’ , ‘associates’ and ‘joint ventures’. What do they mean, and how do they differ from each other?

COMPANY

This refers to the investment holding company, also known as the parent.

The investment holding company owns shares in other companies, which may be its subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures.

SUBSIDIARIES

Normally, when the investor company owns more than 50% of the shares of another company, it is presumed that a parent and subsidiary relationship exists.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtjMZ59Xv2A[/youtube]

This is confirmed if the investor company is able to exercise ‘control’ over the investee company. For example, it may be

able to appoint the majority of the board of directors.

The parent and its subsidiaries comprise what is known as the group.

The accounts of the parent and its subsidiaries are combined and reported as a ‘consolidated’ set of financial statements. It shows the combined activities of the parent and its subsidiaries as if it is one economic entity. This is done in view of their operational and financial inter-dependencies.

The accounting method used to combine the accounts is called the ‘consolidation method’, which adds the accounts of the parent and its subsidiaries on a line-by-line basis.

ASSOCIATES

When the investor company owns between 20% to 50% of the shares of the investee company, the investee company can be considered to be an

‘associate’, especially if the investor company is able to exercise significant influence over the latter’s operating and financial policies.

For example, this can be achieved if the shareholding gives the investor company the right to appoint a member of the board of directors. With regards to the accounting of its investment in an associate by the investor company, it uses what is called the ‘equity method’ of accounting. This involves including in its own income statement, a percentage share of the

associate’s profit or loss, in a single line.

For example, if the investor company owns 20% of the associate, and the associate makes $1 million of profit, the investor company would add $200,000 to its own income statement under a single line, ‘share of results of associate’.

This is different from accounting for a subsidiary under the consolidation method, which includes adding the revenue,costs and expenses of the subsidiary to the parent’s revenue, costs and expenses on a line-by-line basis.

JOINT VENTURES

By definition, a joint venture is a jointly controlled entity. Thus it requires the unanimous consent of all the joint venture partners over the strategic decision of the entity.

Currently, an investor company can choose to use either the ‘equity method’ as described above or the ‘proportionate consolidation method’. The latter involves adding its proportionate share of the assets and liabilities in the joint venture entity to its own financial statements.

The special accounting treatment for the above entities stem from the more active nature of the investment by the investor company. Generally, if the percentage of shareholding is below 20%, it is considered to be more passive in nature, and may be classified as trading or available for sale in nature.

About the Author: James Leong Chan Foo is the MD of VisionsOne Consulting Pte Ltd. His highly popular workshop,

Finance for Non-financial Managers

, coaches managers and executives on using financial numbers to drive their business better. James can be reached at jamesleong@visions1.com.sg or

visions1.com.sg

Source:

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US Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage legal

Sunday, June 28, 2015

On Friday, the United States Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all fifty US states. More than 30 states already permitted gay marriage. The Supreme Court ruled by a five-to-four vote that bans on same-sex marriage were not constitutional. The majority decision was delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Same-sex marriage was banned in more than a dozen states. Justices Sotomayor, Ginsburg, Kagan, Breyer and Kennedy voted in favour while Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas voted against.

Kennedy’s decision brought tears to the eyes of some lawyers in the courtroom. However, Justice Antonin Scalia in his dissenting opinion derided the majority decision: “The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic. […] Of course, the opinion’s showy profundities are often profoundly incoherent.”

When the decision was made, police allowed people outside the court to wave the rainbow flag on the court plaza. Demonstrators outside the court chanted “Love has won”. This decision made the United States the 21st country to legalise same-sex marriage.

President Barack Obama responded to the decision: “Today we can say, in no uncertain terms, that we have made our union a little more perfect.”

After this decision, Facebook introduced a new tool to add rainbow coloring to one’s profile picture to celebrate this victory. Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook “I’m so happy for all of my friends and everyone in our community who can finally celebrate their love and be recognized as equal couples under the law”.

Later, companies like Google, Yahoo, Tumblr and Vine tweeted with hashtag “#LoveWins”. That night, the White House had the rainbow projected on the outside of the building to celebrate the decision.

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Canadian woman gives birth while sitting on toilet

Friday, December 18, 2009

International media attention has been a harsh mistress for 32-year-old Heather Richard of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who gave birth on Sunday while sitting on the toilet. Richard, who believed she was barren and thus assumed she could not be pregnant, thought she was suffering from cramps and a bad bowel movement.

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“I kept getting the urge to push and just thought it was a real bad bowel movement,” Richard told the Winnipeg Sun, whose interview was picked up by the Canadian wire service. “It just fell out. I thought it was my intestines, so I’m freaking out…but then it’s a little boy.” Richard realized that the product was a baby and not her insides when its leg twitched.

Relatives of Richard’s found her hysterically crying and pointing at the toilet. “She was crying and saying, ‘Help me, get my baby out of the toilet, he’s drowning,” Keith Richard, her cousin, told the Sun. While the rest of the family was immobile by the revelation, police officers knocked on her front door; she was to be arrested due to outstanding warrants that Richard says have since been cleared.

One officer performed CPR on the baby and it was rushed to the hospital. The baby, since named Isaiah, weighed five pounds, nine ounces, and suffered a skull fracture, presumably as a result of his head hitting the toilet bowl. The baby is in stable condition and Richard is recovering from her birth at home.

The incident spread like wildfire in the Canadian and international press on Tuesday and Wednesday. When asked about the coverage, Richard told the website canoe.ca that she was embarrassed at all the fuss the story generated.

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO apologies for financial planning scandal

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm.

Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to the planners’ actions.

In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”

An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.

Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.

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Locate Cell Phone Number Just How Easy Is It For Anyone On The Internet To Find And Locate A Cell}

Locate Cell Phone Number Just How Easy Is It For Anyone On The Internet To Find And Locate A Cell

by

terryt

People love cell phones because of their portability but more importantly because of the privacy that they offer to anyone who wants to use them with a degree of secrecy and anonymity.

In fact because of their portability cell phone numbers are generally not listed in telephone directories and this ensures their confidentiality.

A great feature of cell phones is that you can monitor calls and only accept to answer the ones that you choose to which has the great added advantage that you do not have to be pestered by the constant barrage of sales people that normally target telephone land line numbers.

You know the kind of thing I mean, you are just sat down comfortable in front of the tv when the phone rings and when you answer you are confronted with some stranger who out of the goodness of their hearts has decided to telephone you and give you the greatest deal on double glazing that you could ever wish for.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnKscG98jFo[/youtube]

Big tip here, tell them that you are bankrupt and don’t have credit or a credit card, its surprising our quickly your new found friend slaps the phone down on you.

Having said all that you may think that it’s impossible to locate cell phone number

Because of their portability and privacy but surprisingly there are companies and facilities online that can help you to locate a cell phone number.

These cell phone number search facilities allow you to do a reverse cell phone number search and find out the name of a particular person using a cell phone plus any addresses associated with that cell phone.

This capability is all done by using reverse lookups.

This means that if you are in the position where you need to find the details of a cell phone number you will be able to log on to the reverse lookups site and find the details of any cell phone number that you might wish to.

Most of these companies will usually charge a small fee for this service but for the peace of mind that this will offer it is in deed a small price to pay.

Locate cell phone number now by clicking here for immediate action.

Locate cell phone number

now by clicking here for immediate action.:

http://www.locatecellphonenumber.com

Copyright 2008 Robert F Aston.Webmasters and ezine owners may use this article provided they leave all content and links in full contact and without alteration.

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U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on constitutionality of lethal injection

Monday, January 7, 2008

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the constitutionality of the use of lethal injection as a method for the imposition of the death penalty in the United States. Two men, Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr., who were convicted of murder in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and sentenced to death, sued the state in 2004 arguing that the use of lethal injection as a method of imposition of capital punishment violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Thirty-seven states and the Federal Government have capital punishment for some crimes, all except Nebraska (which uses electrocution) use lethal injection. The process uses three chemicals in a “cocktail”, which, by the procedures that are used to apply them to the condemned, (three injections given consecutively) allegedly “create a significant and unnecessary risk of inflicting severe pain that could be prevented by the adoption of reasonable safeguards”, their lawyers said in court papers. “Kentucky seeks to execute in a relatively humane manner and has worked hard to adopt such a procedure,” Kentucky Attorney General Gregory Stumbo has said. The state has also argued in its brief against supporting the plaintiffs’ appeal that it will lead to “an endless road of litigation. … Condemned inmates will never run out of ideas for changes to the procedures, drugs or equipment used during lethal injection.”

Baze was scheduled to be executed on January 8 after Governor of Kentucky Ernie Fletcher signed his death warrant, but the Kentucky Supreme Court suspended his execution on September 12, 2007, arguing it needed more time to examine arguments he had made in a separate appeal. He was convicted of killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in 1992 while the lawmen were trying to serve him with arrest warrants. Bowling was convicted of killing Edward and Tina Earley in Louisville in 1990.

According to the article on lethal injection in Wikipedia, the three chemicals used are Sodium thiopental to render the offender unconscious; Pancuronium/Tubocurarine: to stop all muscle movement except the heart, causing muscle paralysis, collapse of the diaphragm, and would eventually cause death by asphyxiation; and Potassium chloride to stop the heart. The chemicals apparently cannot be combined together as they could precipitate into a solid and be ineffective. It is argued that thiopental is a very short-term anesthetic and may wear off during the procedure, causing anesthesia awareness and excruciating pain from the effects of the other drugs.

In oral hearings today, the justices seemed skeptical that the chemical concoction causes extreme pain or that a better method was available. A lawyer for one of the plaintiffs argued that if insufficient anesthetic is given, when the inmate is given the paralyzing drug, they will experience agonizing pain, but be unable to react, and that it is even illegal in Kentucky to euthanize animals in this fashion. Some of the justices have considered sending the case back for further hearings to determine if a single barbiturate would be superior to the current method.

While the Supreme Court has examined the application of the death penalty many times over the past 40 years, this is the first time the court has reviewed the issue of the method of execution in 100 years, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs. A ruling is not expected until June. There are about 3,000 people on death row in the United States, and about 60 are executed each year. Since the case was accepted by the Supreme Court, all executions in the United States have been temporarily suspended pending the decision.

The case name is Baze v. Rees.

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G20 Summit plans to inject US$5tn into economy before 2011

Friday, April 3, 2009

The G20 Summit held in London, England concluded Thursday with an injection into the economy of US$5 trillion by the end of 2010.

Global trade would be supported by $250 billion (169.5 billion pounds). “We are going to act decisively to kickstart international trade. We will ensure availability of at least $250 billion over the next two years,” said Gordon Brown Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The International Monetary Fund IMF will have access to $750bn in resources of which $250bn will support special drawing rights.

Developing countries received $100bn which will be dispensed via Multilateral development banks. Towards this end, the IMF will sell off gold reserves.

China will support the IMF fund by $40bn, the European Union by $100bn, and Japan by $100bn.

There will be increased regulation on banking and credit ratings agencies. There was a commitment to clamp down on hedge funds, tax havens and toxic assets. To restore consumer confidence in the financial sector, a new Financial Stability Board will be initiated internationally. There would be new policies implemented to control pay and bonuses paid to the heads of banks and corporations.

The G20 leaders were adverse to protectionism and rallied to support international trade and investment.

The Leaders’ statement said, “We reaffirm the commitment made in Washington: to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organization (WTO) inconsistent measures to stimulate exports.”

Eoin O’Malley, senior adviser on international trade at BusinessEurope, said “The measure also needs to be part of wider package to avoid protectionism and conclude the Doha round which will stimulate trade growth. The key point now is to move forward with Doha. The key now is implementation. G20 governments must act quickly to provide this finance to companies that need it urgently.”

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Plane carrying arms to Nepal detained in Gujarat

Thursday, August 31, 2006

A Russian-made aircraft carrying sophisticated arms and ammunition to Nepal has been detained in Ahmedabad. The Jana Astha reported that the plane’s cargo, which was comprised of rifles, ammunition and anti-aircraft guns, was probably made in Israel. The lack of documents regarding the cargo made Indian authorities suspicious, prompting them to order the aeroplane to land after it entered Indian airspace. The plane, headed for Kathmandu has been on the tarmac at the Sardar Patel International Airport for six days now.

According to reports, the consignment is part of a deal struck between Nepal and the manufacturer of the arms, at a time when both India (the largest supplier of arms to Nepal) and the U.S have suspended military dealings with the King to show their displeasure at his attempts to suppress democracy in his country. India has contacted the Nepalese embassy in New Delhi about this matter

India has long been supplying military equipment to its Himalayan neighbour, that too at a 70% subsidy. Many Nepalese governments however, failed to make payments, thereby resulting in a credit amount of several million rupees. India waived the dues as a goodwill gesture when Nepal’s PM Girija Prasad Koirala visited New Delhi this June.

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Why Is Helping Others Important

It is sad whenever a tragedy happens and individuals cannot help because they’re unsure what direction to go and are also untrained in assisting others survive. Even though it holds true that many people are selfish and even unwilling to help others, there’s a certain aspect in the majority of us that, humans or animals, that triggers concern when other medication is in need of assistance. When disaster strikes, the majority are affected. Whether there’s a plane crash, tornado, flooding or fire, someone needs help.

There are a lot of institutions out there that are there to assist those prepared to help others. The necessity is giving up time for training and being prepared to help out with an emergency.The big event doesn’t need to become world-shattering news. It’s really a break in the levy affecting a small number of individuals in a very remote section of America. Whether it leads to people being isolated or needing evacuation, the greater citizens educated to act instead of and help emergency personnel, the more effective the outcomes is going to be as far as life saved, injuries prevented, and perhaps more citizens interested in learning emergency preparedness.

One of the unique popular features of programs like these is the fact that it harkens to the 1950s and 1960s component of Civil Defense. You probably have seen old movies that report the guy wearing his hard hat, escaping the megaphone and announcing the urgent situation and directions to neighbors. This is actually the great news. A lot of the newest program is targeted at teaching neighbors to assist neighbors. Think the traffic inside your community. Many people are not really in a position to calmly leave a place and head to the hills.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Ks9t-j2zM[/youtube]

That said it is simple to determine that lots of of us could face a scenario where buildings don’t have any power. Police force and medical support is going to be struggling to enter and communication is going to be minimal, whether it exists in the least. Thankfully, a person could be among the individuals who really make a difference and possess some control over what’s going to happen together with your new extended emergency family. The category is split up into several sessions, having a total time of 20 or even more hours. Survival skills become familiar with will highlight how you can protect all your family members, home and neighborhood if your disaster happens in your neighborhood.

Some cities continued to maintain citizen awareness and preparedness programs going despite the dwindling of nuclear attack paranoia. Paramedics, fire departments, and police force agencies continued first-aid programs along with other forms of preparedness classes, like search as well as rescue teams. Certified instructors learned from the same classes they are teaching.

It seriously isn’t a long-range program and usually provides the person the information to deal with their loved ones and close neighbors for just two or three days, giving emergency personnel a chance to enter into the region or establish contact to provide further advice along with a status of your area. The data of basic emergency procedures allows a person to keep calm and provide support, assistance and direction until help arrives.

It is really a must to support this kind of institutions. Donating to charity is one way to help. Helping others is very important because as humans it is natural for us to help and support one another.

Article Source: sooperarticles.com/business-articles/non-profit-articles/why-helping-others-important-664678.html

About Author:

Cars4Causes, a “Charity That Gives to Charities”, invites you to make a difference in your lives and reach out. Know more about how you can help and make a car donation in California today. Check out Cars4Causes and learn how to donate car and help peoples causes.Author: Edgardo Berones

Apple unveils iPhone 4, iOS 4 at Worldwide Developers Conference 2010

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Yesterday, at this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), company CEO Steve Jobs unveiled iPhone 4, along with the new iOS 4 operating system for Apple mobile devices.

The announcement was long-awaited but not a very big surprise. In April, the technology blog Gizmodo obtained a prototype of the new phone and published details of it online. While introducing iPhone 4, at the annual conference, Jobs started by hinting at the incident, saying, “Stop me if you’ve already seen this.”

The new iPhone was praised by Jobs as “the biggest leap we’ve taken since the original iPhone.” It is only 9.3 millimetres (0.37 inches) thick, making it “the thinnest smartphone on the planet”, a 24 percent reduction from Apple’s previous model, the iPhone 3GS. Structure-wise, iPhone 4 has a new stainless steel frame, which acts as an antenna, supposedly boosting its signal reception abilities and possibly reducing the amount of dropped calls. It also has a new screen, dubbed a “retina display,” which displays images at 326 pixels per inch. During the keynote, Jobs demoed the device’s new internal gyroscope as well. Even though it now uses Apple’s faster A4 processor (first used in its iPad tablet), iPhone 4 has a claimed seven hours of 3G talk time, up two hours from the 3GS.

In addition to its design features, Jobs showed off iPhone 4’s new video calling abilities. This feature is called FaceTime, and connects with other iPhone 4s via Wi-Fi. The phone has two cameras: one on the front for video chats, and one on the back for taking pictures and other videos. The rear camera has a resolution of five megapixels, is capable of recording high-definition video, and has an LED flash.

The iPhone 4 will use Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 4. Formerly “iPhone OS,” iOS 4 was first introduced by Apple in April, and includes multitasking capabilities. Jobs called the new software “the most advanced mobile operating system in the world.” iOS will support Apple’s new mobile advertising service, iAd, which goes live on July 1.

iPhone 4 will be available on June 24 in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. It comes in two colors—black and white—and two storage capacities. The 16GB version is priced at US$199 and the 32GB version at US$299. The iPhone 3GS’s price will be reduced to US$99, and the iPhone 3G will be discontinued. iOS will be available as a free software update to users of compatible older Apple devices (including the 3GS) on June 21. In the U.S., iPhone 4 will only be available on AT&T’s cellular network, despite calls for Apple to let the iPhone be used on other carriers, such as Verizon.

Competition-wise, the BlackBerry mobile device is still the most popular smartphone right now. Apple is also facing some serious competition from web giant Google’s Android operating system, as well as Palm’s webOS. Earlier this year, Android phones managed to outsell iPhones. iPhone users, however, account for over half of those surfing the Internet on a mobile browser in the U.S. Jobs also noted that over five billion iOS applications, commonly called “apps,” have been purchased from Apple’s App Store. The App Store currently has around 225,000 different apps for sale.

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