Consolidated balance sheet definition
/What is a Consolidated Balance Sheet?
A consolidated balance sheet presents the financial position of an affiliated group of companies. The result is a balance sheet that shows the assets, liabilities, and equity of the group as though they were a single firm. This document is usually presented as part of a complete set of consolidated financial statements. When a consolidated balance sheet is prepared, inter-company transactions are removed to keep from inflating any accounts through double counting.
When conducted manually, the consolidation process needed to create a consolidated balance sheet is both lengthy and prone to error. Consequently, several commercially-available software packages have features that allow for a more automated consolidation process; this contributes to the completion of a faster close and the more rapid issuance of financial statements.