Financial Consolidation and Investment Accounting Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Group Accountants, Financial Reporting Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-100

Before you join: Participants should understand double-entry bookkeeping, the main financial statements and basic IFRS terminology.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Group financial statements can conceal weak control conclusions, inconsistent purchase price allocation, uneliminated intragroup profit and incorrect ownership movements. These errors distort reported earnings, equity and performance measures while delaying audit sign-off and management decisions. Finance teams need a disciplined way to determine which entities belong in the group, calculate acquisition effects, process investment relationships and support each significant adjustment. This course addresses the judgement and working-paper demands behind reliable consolidated financial statements for groups with subsidiaries, associates, joint arrangements and foreign operations.

Participants work through the accounting required from acquisition date to reporting date. The course covers control under IFRS 10, business combinations under IFRS 3, goodwill, non-controlling interests, consolidation journals, intragroup eliminations, ownership changes, equity accounting, foreign currency translation, deferred tax, impairment and IFRS 12 disclosures. Participants learn to build consolidation schedules from separate trial balances, distinguish upstream from downstream transactions, account for partial disposals and identify the disclosures needed for material group relationships. Attention is given to areas that commonly attract auditor challenge: control judgements, fair value adjustments, unrealised profit, deferred tax and documentation.

Teaching combines short technical briefings with worked reporting cases, group calculations, consolidation simulations and review of reporting packs. Cases reflect issues faced by banks, multinational groups, public-interest entities and corporate finance teams. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with reusable consolidation working-paper structures, review checklists and an application plan for their next reporting cycle. The course is delivered over five days, 08:30-16:30, in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess control conclusions using the IFRS 10 power, returns and linkage model
  • Calculate acquisition-date goodwill, fair value adjustments and non-controlling interests under IFRS 3
  • Prepare consolidation journals and worksheets from parent and subsidiary trial balances
  • Eliminate intragroup balances, transactions, dividends and unrealised profits
  • Account for step acquisitions, partial disposals and loss of control
  • Apply the IAS 28 equity method to associates and joint ventures
  • Translate foreign operations and account for related deferred tax and impairment effects
  • Produce an IFRS 12 disclosure and consolidation review checklist

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible control and significant-influence assessments for complex investee structures
  • Prepare acquisition accounting schedules without relying solely on external advisers
  • Identify and correct intragroup elimination errors before audit review
  • Explain ownership-change accounting clearly to finance leaders and auditors
  • Build a documented consolidation file for recurring reporting periods

For your organisation

  • Reduce reporting adjustments caused by incomplete eliminations and ownership calculations
  • Shorten audit queries through clearer consolidation evidence and documented judgements
  • Improve consistency of acquisition accounting across group entities
  • Strengthen IFRS 12 disclosures for subsidiaries, associates and joint arrangements
  • Create repeatable close procedures for changes in group structure

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can determine whether an investee is controlled under IFRS 10 and document the conclusion.

  • Control assessment under IFRS 10 using power, returns and linkage
  • Decision-making rights distinguished between substantive and protective rights under IFRS 10
  • Principal-versus-agent analysis for fund managers, trustees and delegated decision makers
  • Purpose-and-design assessment for structured entities with dispersed voting rights
  • Control conclusion memoranda supported by contracts, governance and ownership evidence
  • Reassessing control after shareholder agreements, option changes and governance amendments

Participants can calculate and record acquisition-date accounting entries under IFRS 3.

  • Acquisition-date identification under IFRS 3 for staged and contractual combinations
  • Consideration transferred measured including contingent consideration, shares and deferred payments
  • Fair value adjustments allocated to identifiable assets, liabilities and intangible assets
  • Goodwill calculation using full and partial goodwill measurement approaches
  • Non-controlling interests measured at fair value or proportionate net assets
  • Acquisition-related costs expensed and pre-existing relationships settled correctly

Participants can prepare a consolidation worksheet and calculate group equity balances.

  • Parent and subsidiary trial balances mapped to a consolidation chart
  • Elimination entries remove investment balances against subsidiary equity accounts
  • Post-acquisition reserves separated from pre-acquisition equity and fair value movements
  • Non-controlling interest calculated for profit, reserves and closing net assets
  • Consolidation worksheet columns reconcile adjustments, eliminations and group financial statements
  • Consolidation journals documented with cross-references to supporting schedules

Participants can eliminate intragroup transactions and allocate resulting effects correctly.

  • Intragroup sales eliminations remove unrealised profit from inventory and cost of sales
  • Upstream and downstream transactions allocated between parent and non-controlling interests
  • Intercompany receivables, payables, loans and accrued interest eliminated on consolidation
  • Unrealised gains on non-current asset transfers adjusted for depreciation
  • Dividend eliminations distinguish pre-acquisition distributions from post-acquisition income
  • Foreign currency intercompany balances assessed for monetary item treatment

Participants can account for changes in ownership, including loss of control and retained interests.

  • Step acquisitions remeasure previously held interests at acquisition-date fair value
  • Partial disposals without loss of control recorded within equity
  • Loss of control accounting calculates gain, retained interest and derecognition
  • Changes in ownership schedules track parent and non-controlling interest movements
  • Common-control transactions assessed against applicable accounting policy requirements
  • Disposal group presentation considered under IFRS 5 classification criteria

Participants can apply the equity method and classify joint arrangements correctly.

  • Significant influence assessed under IAS 28 using facts and indicators
  • Equity method entries recognise share of profit and other comprehensive income
  • Investor-to-associate unrealised profits eliminated to the investor's ownership interest
  • Joint arrangements classified as joint operations or joint ventures under IFRS 11
  • Joint operation assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses recognised directly
  • Impairment indicators tested for investments accounted for using equity method

Participants can translate foreign operations and record exchange differences in group accounts.

  • Foreign operations identified through functional currency rather than presentation currency
  • Functional currency determined from sales pricing, costs and financing evidence
  • Translation differences recognised in other comprehensive income and cumulative reserve
  • Goodwill and fair value adjustments translated at closing rates
  • Foreign operation disposal recycles relevant cumulative translation differences
  • IAS 21 monetary items distinguished from net investment balances

Participants can identify deferred tax and impairment consequences of consolidation adjustments.

  • Temporary differences mapped from consolidation adjustments and acquisition fair values
  • Deferred tax recognised on fair value uplifts and elimination entries
  • Goodwill impairment tested under IAS 36 cash-generating unit requirements
  • Impairment losses allocated between parent and non-controlling interests
  • Recoverable amount compares value in use with fair value less costs
  • Deferred tax exceptions assessed for initial recognition and goodwill

Participants can prepare disclosure support and evidence for key group reporting judgements.

  • IFRS 12 disclosure requirements mapped for subsidiaries, associates and joint arrangements
  • Material non-controlling interests supported by summarised financial information schedules
  • Judgements about control, joint control and significant influence documented clearly
  • Related party disclosures reconcile intragroup eliminations with IAS 24 requirements
  • Segment reporting implications considered when acquisition and disposal events occur
  • Disclosure checklists trace note requirements to consolidation working papers

Participants can review a consolidation file, investigate exceptions and plan reporting-cycle improvements.

  • Consolidation close timetable assigns data owners, review points and dependencies
  • Trial balance validation detects mapping errors, sign reversals and duplicate entries
  • Analytical review compares group margins, tax rates and ownership movements
  • Materiality thresholds guide investigation, correction and documentation of consolidation differences
  • Review notes record preparer conclusions, reviewer challenge and resolution evidence
  • Personal application plan prioritises workplace consolidation improvements and stakeholder actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. IFRS 10 control assessment memorandum template
  2. IFRS 3 acquisition accounting schedule
  3. Consolidation worksheet and journal pack
  4. Intragroup elimination checklist
  5. Ownership-change calculation model
  6. IFRS 12 disclosure and close-review checklist

Who should attend

  • Group Accountants — prepare consolidation adjustments and group reporting packs
  • Financial Reporting Managers — review technical judgements, schedules and disclosures
  • Consolidation Accountants — manage monthly, quarterly or annual consolidation processes
  • Finance Managers — oversee subsidiary reporting and acquisition accounting
  • Audit Managers — challenge group accounting conclusions and consolidation evidence
  • Corporate Development Finance Staff — assess accounting effects of acquisitions and disposals

Skills and tools covered

Control assessmentBusiness combination accountingConsolidation journalsIntragroup eliminationsEquity method accountingGroup reporting review

Tools and standards

IFRS 3 Business Combinations, IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements, IAS 28 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures, IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by worked calculations, reporting cases, group exercises and consolidation simulations. Participants analyse ownership charts, acquisition data, separate trial balances and intragroup transaction records, then prepare the related journals and review evidence. Facilitators use realistic reporting issues, including structured entities, foreign operations and partial disposals. Guided discussion focuses on judgement, common errors and audit challenge. Participants finish with application planning for their own reporting cycle.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand double-entry bookkeeping, the main financial statements and basic IFRS terminology. Prior experience preparing or reviewing a trial balance, financial statements or month-end journals is expected. Familiarity with group structures, investments or consolidation software is helpful but not essential. The course assumes participants can follow calculations involving debits, credits, retained earnings and deferred tax. It does not require prior consolidation experience, advanced valuation expertise, audit qualifications, programming skills or specialist consolidation-system training.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand double-entry bookkeeping, financial statements and basic IFRS terms. Previous consolidation experience is useful but not required; the course begins with group structures and control assessment.

Bring a calculator and, if permitted by your employer, examples of non-confidential consolidation questions or reporting issues. Course materials and calculation cases are provided, whether you attend in person or live online.

It is intended for accountants and finance professionals who prepare, review or audit group financial statements. It is particularly relevant to staff handling subsidiaries, acquisitions, associates, joint ventures or foreign operations.

A general IFRS course surveys many accounting standards across the financial statements. This course concentrates on group reporting mechanics, investment accounting, consolidation journals, ownership changes and supporting disclosures.

Participants can use the working-paper structures and checklists during their next month-end, quarter-end or year-end close. The methods also support acquisition reviews, audit queries and group accounting policy documentation.

Ten modules provide about 30 contact hours of technical instruction and applied case work. Remaining scheduled contact time is used for case integration, calculation review, questions and individual application planning across five 08:30-16:30 training days.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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