Enhanced interface

Entities to consolidate—Global Consolidation

The workflow for setting up a book using Global Consolidation is shown here:

Global Consolidation book setup
❶ Set up book info	❷ Select entities to consolidate	❸ Review and add journals	❹ Select accounts to override	❺ Add IET auto-elimination

The Entities to consolidate tab is where you complete the following main steps.

Entities to include in your book: Select the entities to include in your consolidation book. For example, you might use Global Consolidation to consolidate across three entities using multiple base currencies. Or you might use Domestic Consolidation to consolidate across five entities that use a single base currency.
Elimination entity: Select the elimination entity where Global or Domestic Consolidation posts consolidation journal entries, including currency translation adjustments for Consolidation, and elimination transactions for inter-entity balances in both Global and Domestic Consolidation.
Enable inter-entity auto-elimination: Select to automatically eliminate inter-entity activity.
Elimination adjustment account:
When consolidating a book, Sage Intacct posts offsetting elimination adjustment entries for the inter-entity elimination entries that are generated during consolidation. Intacct posts the offsetting elimination adjustment entries to the elimination adjustment account.
If the account is translated, then the posted amount includes the translated amount.
Consolidated dimensions:
Rather than posting all consolidated journal entries by all dimension value combinations, you can select in advance only those dimensions that you want to include in your consolidated journal entries. For example, it's unusual to run consolidated financial reports on customer and vendor dimensions, such that you can deselect these dimensions from consolidated journal entries. The result is more streamlined consolidation reports that are easier to read and understand.

To locate this page, go to Consolidation > Setup > Books, or select Add (circle) next to Books to create a new book, and then select the Entities to consolidate tab.

Select entities to consolidate and elimination entities

Entities to consolidate

Use the Entities to consolidate tab to select the entities for this book. The first time you set up a consolidation book, you can add or remove entities as needed until you get the exact set that you need. After you consolidate at least once, you can no longer remove entities from the book. However, you can still add new entities.

If you are eliminating by the affiliate entity dimension, Intacct compares the list of entities to consolidate to any affiliate entities to determine the affiliate entity values to eliminate from the list of elimination accounts.

Elimination entities

Elimination entities are shell entities that are used only for posting consolidation entries for a consolidation book.

The elimination entity is where Consolidation posts consolidation entries. These include: elimination transactions for inter-entity activity, currency translation adjustments, and non-controlling interest entries.
If you have consolidation books in different currencies, the elimination entity currency must match the reporting book currency.
If you're using Advanced Ownership Consolidation, a best practice is to create a unique elimination entity for each reporting book in the ownership structure.

Select entities for a new book
Add entities to an existing book

The Elimination entity drop-down menu is shown only when you are creating or editing a book. If you're viewing the setup of an existing book, the elimination entity is displayed in the list of entities included in the book. Learn more about elimination entities.

Select entities for a new book

Select the entities you want to use in a new book.

Navigate to Entities to consolidate.
Under Entities to consolidate, Select the entities you want to consolidate from the list of entities that is shown.
If you're editing an existing book, the Select link appears as x selected: Edit.
Select Add to add an entity to the list, or Add all to add all entities to the list.
Select Done.
Select an elimination entity from the Elimination entity drop-down menu.
You need permissions for the elimination entity, which are enabled in User setup for your company.
Select Enable inter-entity auto-elimination if you want Intacct to automatically eliminate inter-entity activity from accounts defined on the Elimination accounts tab.
Leave this box cleared if you need to manually eliminate inter-entity activity for your specific business needs.
You cannot change this selection after running the consolidation.
Select an Elimination adjustment account, which is used to post the offset entries for the inter-entity elimination entries that Intacct generates during consolidation. If the account is translated, then the posted amount includes the translated amount (CTA, or Cumulative Translation Adjustment).

When Inter-entity auto-elimination is enabled, the Elimination accounts tab is shown, where you select the accounts from which you want to want to eliminate inter-entity activity.

Next step: Proceed to Journals — Global Consolidation.

Add entities to an existing book and consolidate

A growing business may add new entities regularly. It's easy to add a new entity to an existing consolidation book. You can continue your monthly consolidations without interruption even as your consolidation book expands to include new entities.

When you add entities to your consolidation book and consolidate them for the first time, identify the month from which you want to begin reporting on your consolidated financial statement, and begin your consolidation one month earlier. This gives you a beginning balance for the first month reported on your consolidated financial statement.

Go to Consolidation > Setup > Books and select the book you want to edit.
Select Entities to consolidate.
If the Consolidation entities section shows Consolidated entities > View ownership structure, then this consolidation book is related to an ownership structure and the remaining steps do not apply. Learn more about editing an ownership structure period.
Under Consolidation entities, select Entities to consolidate > Select.

If entities have been selected previously, select Add or edit.
Under Available items, select the entities you want to add to the Selected items list.
From Available items, select any entities you want to add to the book, for example, any new entities you have added.

All the entities you selected are shown in the Selected items column.
Select Done.
Proceed to the other book setup tabs as needed.
To consolidate the edited book, select Run consolidation.
Select the Book down arrow to select the consolidation book to use for the consolidation.
Select the consolidation period by selecting the Period Range down arrow and then selecting the consolidation period you want.
Identify the month at which you want to begin consolidating, and begin consolidating 1 month prior.

If a period shows as unavailable, that means the entity was not included in that consolidation period.

If you add entities later, the Refresh button on the organization chart refreshes only existing data. Refresh the page in the browser to see the new entities.

Remove an entity from a consolidation book

You cannot delete an entity from a consolidation book after at least one transaction was made in the entity, or after the book is consolidated. Still, there are times you might not want an entity to be active in consolidations. For example, you might need to remove an entity from a consolidation book when that entity is sold or closed.

To ensure the entity will no longer affect consolidations, create closing journal entries to zero the balances, then inactivate the entity.

See Inactivate or delete an entity for details about correctly inactivating an entity.

Under Consolidation entities, select Entities to consolidate > Add or edit.
From Selected items, select the x next to any entities you want to remove from the book, for example, any entities that have been sold or closed.

All the entities you delete from the book are shown in the Available items column.
Select Done.
Save your book.

Select elimination accounts

It's common for multi-entity companies to have transactions among entities. During consolidation, you can configure your ownership structure or consolidation book to automatically generate offsetting entries against inter-entity activity in the elimination entity. In this way, inter-entity activity does not affect reporting in the consolidated book.

By default, Sage Intacct automatically applies elimination to the inter-entity payable and receivable accounts that you specify in your inter-entity account mapping.
You can add other GL accounts that you use for inter-entity transactions. Examples include other receivable and payable accounts, such as those for inter-entity loans, or inter-entity income and expense accounts.

If Inter-entity auto-elimination is enabled on the Entities to consolidate tab, select Elimination accounts to review the accounts that are automatically eliminated. The Elimination accounts tab only appears when Inter-entity auto-elimination is enabled.

Go to the Elimination accounts tab.
Click in the GL account line, then select the down arrow.
Select the account you want to add from the dropdown list.
Repeat this on a new line for each account you want to add.
Save your changes.

To remove an account from auto-elimination, select the trashcan icon beside that account.

Select consolidated dimension values for Consolidation reporting

Rather than posting all consolidated journal entries by all dimension value combinations, you can select in advance only those dimensions that you want to include in your consolidated journal entries. For example, it's unusual to run consolidated financial reports on customer and vendor dimensions, such that you can deselect these dimensions from consolidated journal entries. The result is more streamlined consolidation reports that are easier to read and understand.

You can select dimensions for both new and existing consolidation books. Any old books you consolidated without using this feature will have all dimensions selected by default; you can deselect them if you choose.

The Entity/Location dimension is automatically selected.

Go to the Consolidated dimensions section of the page.
Select the dimensions you want to include in consolidated financial reports, including user-defined dimensions, if any.

The Entity/Location dimension is always selected, and can't be deselected, as this dimension is required in a multi-entity company.
If you change your mind later, you can optionally select and deselect any of these consolidated dimensions.

Upon consolidation, Sage Intacct includes dimension values as specified at book setup during that period's consolidation.

Next step: Run a consolidation report for the book.

Add user-defined journals to your consolidation book

You can add user-defined journals to your consolidation book to align with accounting standards, tax, or other purposes.

If you created additional reporting books (such as aligning with accounting standards, tax, or user-defined books) in the General Ledger, you can add them to a consolidation so they will be available at reporting time. For example, each entity can maintain their own Tax book, which can then be included in the consolidation. You can select which books to consolidate individually and at any time for optimal reporting flexibility.

After you select a reporting book to consolidate, Global or Domestic Consolidation automatically creates the journals required for books for aligning with accounting standards, tax, or user-defined books. You don't need to make any changes, unless you want to update their symbols and titles which you can do by selecting the field of interest.

Field descriptions

Field	Description
Entities to consolidate	Shows the number of entities to consolidate. Select the link to see the selected entities and to add or remove entities
Select	Select Select to open the Add entities dialog box, from which you can add more entities to consolidate.
Elimination entity	The elimination entity is where Global Consolidation posts consolidation journal entries, including currency translation adjustments and elimination transactions for inter-entity balances. If you have multiple consolidation books, each book should have a different elimination entity.
Enable inter-entity auto elimination	Select to automatically post inter-entity eliminations for the accounts listed on the Elimination accountstab. The Elimination accounts tab only appears when this option is selected. Consolidations will run only at the top-level entity of the current book. Leave this box cleared if you don't want the system to eliminate your inter-entity balances at consolidation. This option makes it easier to consolidate entities with different closing dates.
Elimination adjustment account	This is where you select the elimination adjustment account for the consolidation book. When consolidating a book, Sage Intacct posts offsetting elimination adjustment entries for the inter-entity elimination entries that are generated during consolidation. Intacct posts the offsetting elimination adjustment entries to the elimination adjustment account. If the account is translated, then the posted amount includes the translated amount. Elimination entries and the offsetting elimination adjustment entries should net to zero.
Eliminate by affiliate entity	Select to eliminate by the affiliate entity standard dimension. Refer to Set up the affiliate entity dimension and Example: Consolidation eliminations with the affiliate entity dimension for more information about eliminating by the affiliate entity standard dimension.
Consolidated dimensions	Select in advance only those dimensions you want to include in your consolidated journal entries. The Location dimension, which includes entities, is automatically selected. You can select dimensions for both new and existing consolidation books. Any old books you consolidated without using this feature will have all dimensions selected by default; you can deselect them if you choose. If you change your mind after consolidating your book, you can select and deselect dimensions to be consolidated, and re-consolidate your book. Your posted entries will reflect the changes you made before re-consolidating. For example, if you remove the Customer dimension and then re-consolidate, your posted entries following re-consolidation will leave out the Customer dimension.