Abstract/Summary

Large multi-national enterprises commonly comprise many separate legal entities, which commonly also present a complexity of intra-group relationships. The related accounting solutions offered through IASB standards are equally complicated, resulting in financial statements for an artificial ‘group’ which provide little transparency into the workings or risks of individual legal entities within that construct. This chapter utilises a number of investigative mechanisms to question the utility of group accounting. Our approach include empirical scrutiny of a number of recent large group annual reports, along with three deeper case studies of recent corporate failings and collapses. Our results suggest a range of common non-compliances and deficiencies in group-related accounting standards, which collectively reflect and enable evasion of effective accountability. Key deficiencies identified include allowing risks and critical transactions to be hidden within highly aggregated disclosures, limited related party disclosures, and limited disclosures regarding impairment testing and losses.