Accounting for Collaboration in Local Government

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This publication is the first to be based on revised provisions in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) (principally IFRSs 10, 11 and 12), as required by the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom (the Code).

CIPFA has updated and extended the Group Accounts Workbook to help authorities establish group boundaries, to account for their wider interests in other organisations in accordance with the IFRS-based Code, and to guide finance officers in the important tasks of making plans for collecting and consolidating information from other organisations.

Topics covered by this publication include:

• a summary of the Code’s requirements and a detailed analysis of their application, ie route maps that follow the processes for consolidating interests into the authority’s own accounts and group accounts, from identifying the interests that the authority has, through to publishing the finished statements
• determining the boundary of the authority’s group and the classification of its interests
• considering materiality in the decision on whether group accounts are required
• guidance on mobilising other organisations and planning the accounts production strategy and timetable
• the adjustments that will be required to the accounts of the authority and other organisations in preparing consolidation schedules
• the mechanics of consolidation for subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, and for joint operations into the authority’s own accounts
• the role of the external auditor
• detailed accounts preparation case studies.

Each of these areas is supported fully by practical tips, worked examples and presentations, including a Group Movement in Reserves Statement and a Group Segmental Reporting Note.

This publication is available in hard copy and online.