Il processo di redazione del bilancio consolidato. Il caso Alfa

The environment in which the companies operate is characterized by the continuous changes in the economic conditions. This induces companies to create aggregations of groups of entities which may end up in complex structures under the control of a parent company. In such environment the information presented in the individual financial statements of legal entities are not enough because such documents could provide misleading information about the Group accounts. Therefore, there was the need to define methodologies, which if followed, make possible the provision of stockholders with correct information about Group's equity, about its financial and economic results, and about future group strategies considered as single economic subject. An important aspect of the information provided by entities to the stakeholders regards the reliability, especially due to the increasing number of financial scandals in the last years. Therefore, it is important that the systems used by entities for the production of the information that is presented to stakeholders are solid and reliable, in order to allow the final users to make their decisions consciously. Concerning the preparation of the consolidated financial statements, when the group is composed by many entities and these ones are placed in different parts of the world, the consolidation process becomes difficult, (if not impossible) if it is not supported by an adequate informative system. One of the management applications that supports the financial area within the companies, especially for the preparation of the financial statements (separate and consolidated) and other financial information is the Hyperion Financial Management. Hyperion Financial Management is a financial consolidation and reporting application built with advanced Web technology and designed to be used and maintained by the finance team within the company. It supports managers in the consolidation and reporting process, providing them with the ability to rapidly consolidate and report financial results and at the same time to meet global regulatory requirements, with reduced costs of compliance. The use of such application gives additional value to the company, and this is proven in this paper through the presentation of a practical case. Alfa is a leading global group operating in agricultural sector present in all major markets worldwide. The Group has industrial and financial services companies located in 45 countries and a commercial presence in approximately 190 countries. In order to improve comparability with its main peers, Alfa changed its presentation currency from euro to U.S. dollars and starting with fiscal year ended December 31, 2013 Alfa started to prepare its reports quarterly and annual financial results both under U.S. GAAP for SEC reporting purposes and under IFRS for European listing purposes. Financial statements under both sets of accounting principles use U.S. dollar as the reporting currency. In this paper is presented the Hyperion Financial Management application that was created in order to respond to requirements of Alfa's financial team, especially to help them in the preparation on the consolidated financial statements and other reports required as part of the external reporting.