The correct classification of profits in different countries requires compliance with specific local tax laws and transfer pricing agreements. Regulators require country-by-country reporting and access to detailed transactions to avoid significant fines and fees. Employees: Not all private companies have sufficiently trained and experienced accounting staff to properly manage intercompany transactions. For example, one company we know had nine wholly-owned subsidiaries. The parent company demonstrated that Subsidiary No. 1 owed it $105,000 on the debtor`s trial balance. Company #1 demonstrated that it owed the parent company $5,000 in its accounts payable. We showed this problem to the accounting staff of the parent company and asked about the $100,000 gap. The employee told us that she did not know what amount was correct. The following question was asked of the business owner who was looking to obtain a loan from a bank: “How can a bank have confidence in the accuracy of your financial statements if your accounting staff cannot accurately capture transactions in your own businesses?” In intra-group accounting, financial transactions between different legal entities within the same parent company are accounted for. Because these companies are interconnected, transactions between them are not “independent” and companies cannot include the result of these transactions in the consolidated financial statements.
Intercompany transactions can be reported in an organization`s accounting system at the time of their creation so that they can be automatically reset during the preparation of consolidated financial statements. If there is no tagging function in the software, transactions must be identified manually, which is subject to a high degree of error. The latter case most often occurs in a small organization that has used a less feature-rich accounting system and now finds that it does not have the transactional tagging capabilities to account for its subsidiaries. Intercompany accounting is a set of procedures used by a parent company to eliminate transactions between its subsidiaries. For example, if a subsidiary sold goods to another subsidiary, it is not a valid sales transaction from the parent company`s perspective because the transaction took place internally. Therefore, the sale must be removed from the books at the time of preparation of the parent company`s consolidated financial statements so that it does not appear in the financial statements. Cash: Let`s say the owner of a parent company transfers $100,000 to an affiliate`s bank account. Will employees of the parent company have what it takes to ask the owner why the transfer was made? Will the company`s employees assume that it is an intercompany loan, a payment for some kind of debt, or a permanent creation of equity between the two companies? Even worse, how will the owner of the parent company know that this particular transaction is properly recorded for income tax purposes when the tax CPA prepares the tax returns of both companies? A list of intercompany transactions is important for an event of tomorrow because it helps: the complexity of intercompany accounting increases as it extends beyond accounting and finance to tax and treasury services. Companies need to analyze the value chain to understand and execute specific tax policies and transfer pricing agreements. To understand cross-border clearing rules and consolidate them for invoicing, detailed transaction information is required. If these types of transactions are not properly eliminated, any unbalanced account can seriously affect financial statements, cause compliance issues, the risk of resubmission, SEC fines, and shareholder lawsuits.
Intercompany transactions are divided into two basic categories: direct intercompany transactions and indirect transactions between companies. Managing intercompany transactions can be costly and laborious. The balance between large amounts of data and error tracking to mitigate risk is often hampered by limited business-to-business visibility. Because it is highly distributed, there may be less control and less responsibility. As companies significantly expand their global presence, an increasing number of intercompany transactions are generated and immediately complicated by local tax policies, currencies, transfer pricing, and disparate systems and applications. Contact PIASCIK today to find out how accounting for intercompany transactions can benefit you and your business. Your initial consultation is absolutely FREE without you having to commit. Our first class services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We even offer a flat fee with no hidden fees. No other international tax firm is as committed, experienced and reliable as PIASCIK.
In a 2016 Deloitte survey of more than 4,000 accounting professionals, nearly 80% experienced internal accounting issues related to disparate software systems within and across business units and divisions, intercompany settlement processes, managing complex legal arrangements, transfer pricing compliance and foreign exchange engagement. An intercompany transaction is a transaction between affiliates (i.e. between a parent company and one of its subsidiaries or between subsidiaries of a parent company). Transactions between members of a corporate group must be considered and eliminated for the consolidation of affiliates. Intercompany transactions occur when the unit of a legal entity has a transaction with another entity within the same entity. Many international companies use intercompany transfer pricing and other related party transactions to influence IC-DISC, promote improved taxes on intercompany transactions, and effectively increase efficiency within the company. Intercompany transactions can be essential to maximize the allocation of income and deductions. .
