Murgese Consolidate Pilot

Acquisitions, disposals and associates

One record for each subsidiary, coming in and going out. Goodwill and the profit on a disposal are both worked out from what was paid and what was there, and neither is ever typed in.

  • Control is asked, not assumedMore than half the votes usually means control, and Murgese Consolidate suggests it. But a casting vote in a shareholders' agreement can give control at 40%, and a holding of 80% where the other party appoints the board may not. The percentage is a suggestion and the relationship is the answer: it asks, records what you said, and consolidates on that basis.
  • Effective interest, through the chainA company 60% held by a wholly owned subsidiary is 60% the group's, and the minority is 40%. The non-controlling interest in the results and the net assets is worked out from that, company by company.
  • Read from the trial balancesWhat a subsidiary owned and owed at the date control passed is read from its trial balance at that date, not keyed in, which takes out the keying errors.
  • Goodwill, with its workingGoodwill is worked out at the date control passed, from the consideration and the share of net assets acquired, and shown with its working: the investment eliminated, the share capital and reserves taken out, and what is left.
  • Ten years is the cap, not the defaultGoodwill's useful life is never filled in for you, and amortisation waits until somebody decides it. It is then charged by the month from the acquisition date.
  • Fair values that reach the balance sheetAn uplift to fair value at acquisition reaches the group balance sheet and is depreciated over the asset's remaining life.
  • Earn-outs, asked aboutFor 2026 periods it asks whether an earn-out is pay for services or part of the price, under Section 19 as amended by the Periodic Review 2024, and keeps pay out of goodwill.
  • Part of a yearA company bought or sold during the year is split at the date control passed, using a trial balance drawn at that date, never apportioned by days.
  • A company that has left, still there to finishA subsidiary sold during the year stays on the trial balance and acquisitions screens, in a group of its own labelled with the date it left, because its last trial balance and its acquisition are both needed to work out the profit on disposal. Choosing it on the trial balance screen offers its disposal date and the disposal purpose in one press.
  • The date control was lost, corrected on its rowIt can be corrected, or cleared to put the company back in the group, from the row it is shown on. Clearing it deletes nothing: the company's trial balances and mapping stay as they were. While a sale is recorded against that date, the row says to remove the sale first, because the two have to agree.
  • Associates by the equity methodA holding the group has significant influence over but does not control is equity accounted under FRS 102 Section 14: one line on the balance sheet for the group's share of its net assets, and one in the profit and loss account for its share of the profit.
  • Refused rather than guessedSome things it will not decide for you, and it says so on the screen: it will not identify the acquirer in a reverse acquisition, place a fair value adjustment it cannot identify, or guess at a written-down investment.
The group structure in Murgese Consolidate: each company with who holds it, the direct and effective interest, and the minority where there is one.
The group structure in Murgese Consolidate: each company with who holds it, the direct and effective interest, and the minority where there is one.
Acquisitions and disposals: for each subsidiary, the date acquired, the consideration, the goodwill and its carrying amount.
Acquisitions and disposals: for each subsidiary, the date acquired, the consideration, the goodwill and its carrying amount.
The investment in three subsidiaries eliminated against their share capital and reserves at acquisition, leaving goodwill of £960,000, as a journal that adds to nil.
The investment in three subsidiaries eliminated against their share capital and reserves at acquisition, leaving goodwill of £960,000, as a journal that adds to nil.

Murgese Consolidate, on a demonstration group. The group and every figure are invented.

Try it on a group you have already filed

The way to judge consolidation software is on a group whose accounts are signed: run it through and compare the result. Murgese Consolidate is not on general sale, and the pilot is the way in. It is free for the whole pilot, then a pilot tester's price, set out in writing before the pilot ends and held for two years from the day the licence starts.

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