US: Intercompany Profit Transactions—Inventories

Intercompany Profit Transactions—Inventories

1. The effect of unrealized profits and losses on sales between affiliated companies is eliminated in preparing consolidated financial statements. When are profits and losses on such sales realized for consolidated statement purposes?

Profits and losses on sales between affiliates are realized for consolidated statement purposes when the purchasing affiliate resells the merchandise to parties outside of the consolidated entity. If all merchandise sold to affiliates is resold to outside parties in the same period, there will be no unrealized profit to eliminate in preparing the consolidated financial statements.

2. In eliminating unrealized profit on intercompany sales of inventory items, should gross profit or net profit be eliminated?

Gross profit, rather than net profit, is the concept that should be used in computing unrealized inventory profits according to GAAP.

3. Is the amount of intercompany profit to be eliminated from consolidated financial statements affected by the existence of a noncontrolling interest? Explain.

The amount of unrealized profit to be eliminated in the preparation of consolidated financial statements is not affected by the existence of a noncontrolling interest. All unrealized profit must be eliminated. In the case of upstream sales, however, the unrealized profit should be allocated between controlling and noncontrolling interests.

4. What effect does the elimination of intercompany sales and cost of goods sold have on consolidated net income?

The elimination of intercompany sales and purchases does not affect consolidated net income. This is because equal amounts are deducted from sales and cost of sales and the net effect on consolidated net income is nil. The importance of the elimination lies in a correct statement of consolidated sales and cost of sales.

5. What effect does the elimination of intercompany accounts receivable and accounts payable have on consolidated working capital?

Consolidated working capital is not affected by the elimination of intercompany accounts receivable and accounts payable balances. Since equal amounts are deducted from current assets and current liabilities, the effect on the computation "current assets less current liabilities" is nil.

6. Explain the designations upstream sales and downstream sales. Of what significance are these designations in computing parent and consolidated net income?

Upstream sales are sales from subsidiary to parent. Downstream sales are sales from parent to subsidiary. The importance of this designation lies in the fact that the profit or loss on such transactions is the selling affiliate's profit or loss. In the case of unrealized profit or loss on downstream sales, all the profit or loss is assigned to the parent-seller. But unrealized profit or loss on upstream sales is profit or loss of the subsidiary-seller and is assigned to the parent and noncontrolling interest in relation to their proportionate holdings.

7. Would failure to eliminate unrealized profit in inventories at December 31, 2011, have any effect on consolidated net income in 2012? 2013?

Yes. If unrealized profits are not eliminated at year end, consolidated net income will be overstated in 2011. The ending inventory of one year becomes the beginning inventory of the next year, and unrealized profits in the beginning inventory will understate consolidated net income in 2012. The analysis of the effect of unrealized inventory profits on consolidated net income is basically the same as the analysis for inventory errors. Like inventory errors, errors in eliminating unrealized profits are self-correcting over any two accounting periods. Consolidated net income for 2013 is unaffected.

8. Under what circumstances is noncontrolling interest share affected by intercompany sales activity?

The noncontrolling interest share is affected by upstream sales if the merchandise has not been resold by the parent to outside parties by the end of the accounting period. This is because the noncontrolling interest share is based on the income of the subsidiary. If the subsidiary has unrealized profit from intercompany sales, its realized income will be less than its reported income. The noncontrolling interest share should be based on the realized income of the subsidiary.

9. How does a parent adjust its investment income for unrealized profit on sales it makes to its subsidiaries (a) in the year of the sale and (b) in the year in which the subsidiaries sell the related merchandise to outsiders?

A parent's investment income and investment accounts are adjusted for unrealized profits on intercompany sales to subsidiaries in accordance with the one-line consolidation concept. The parent reduces its investment and investment income accounts for the full amount of the unrealized profits in the year of intercompany sale. When the goods are sold to outside parties by the subsidiary, the profits of the parent are realized and the parent increases its investment and investment income accounts.

10. How is the combined cost of goods sold affected by unrealized profit in (a) the beginning inventory of the subsidiary and (b) the ending inventory of the subsidiary?

Combined cost of goods sold is overstated when there are unrealized profits in the beginning inventory and understated when there are unrealized profits in the ending inventory. The elimination of unrealized profits in the beginning inventory reduces (credits) cost of goods sold and the elimination of unrealized profits in the ending inventory increases (debits) cost of goods sold.

11. Is the effect of unrealized profit on consolidated cost of goods sold influenced by (a) the existence of a noncontrolling interest and (b) the direction of intercompany sales?

The effect of unrealized profits on consolidated cost of goods sold is not affected either by a noncontrolling interest or by the direction of the intercompany sales. All unrealized profit from both upstream and downstream sales is eliminated from consolidated cost of goods sold.

12. Unrealized profit in the ending inventory is eliminated in consolidation workpapers by increasing cost of sales and decreasing the inventory account. How is unrealized profit in the beginning inventory reflected in the consolidation workpapers?

Unrealized profit in the beginning inventory is reflected in an overstatement of cost of sales and is eliminated by reducing (crediting) cost of sales and debiting the investment account if a correct equity method has been used and the intercompany sales are downstream. In the case of upstream sales, cost of sales is credited and the noncontrolling interest and the investment account are debited proportionately.

13. Describe the computation of noncontrolling interest share in a year in which there is unrealized inventory profit from upstream sales in both the beginning and ending inventories of the parent.

There are two equally good approaches for computing noncontrolling interest share when there are unrealized profits from upstream sales in both beginning and ending inventories. One approach is to compute realized income of the subsidiary by adding unrealized profits in the beginning inventory to reported subsidiary net income and deducting unrealized profits in the ending inventory. The noncontrolling interest share is then equal to the realized income of the subsidiary multiplied by the noncontrolling interest percentage.
The other approach is to compute the noncontrolling interest percentage in reported subsidiary net income, in unrealized profits in beginning inventory, and in unrealized profits in ending inventory. Noncontrolling interest share is then computed by adding the noncontrolling interest percentage in unrealized profits in the beginning inventory to the noncontrolling interest share of reported income, and subtracting the noncontrolling interest percentage relating to the unrealized profits in the ending inventory.

14. Consolidation workpaper procedures are usually based on the assumption that any unrealized profit in the beginning inventory of one year is realized through sales in the following year. If the related merchandise is not sold in the succeeding period, would the assumption result in an incorrect measurement of consolidated net income?

The assumption that unrealized profits in an ending inventory are realized in the succeeding period is a convenience, but it does not result in incorrect measurements of consolidated net income as long as the unrealized profits at any statement date are correctly determined. This is because any unrealized profits in beginning inventory that are considered realized are credited to cost of sales. The same items will appear as unrealized profits in the ending inventory if they remain unsold, and the elimination of these items results in debiting cost of sales for the same amount. Thus, the workpaper effects are offsetting as illustrated in the following workpaper entries, which assume $5,000 unrealized profits from downstream sales.