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You can transfer financial data from subsidiaries to the consolidated company, even if the subsidiaries use Business Central in different environments. To learn more about how to connect to other environments, go to Set Up Company Consolidation.
If the financial statements of a business unit use a different currency than the consolidated company, you must set up exchange rates for consolidation. To learn more about exchange rates for consolidations, go to Set Up Company Consolidation.
You can consolidate:
Across companies that have different charts of accounts.
Companies that use different fiscal years and different currencies.
Either the full amount or a percentage of a company's financial information.
Using different currency exchange rates in individual G/L accounts.
Companies in other accounting and business management programs.
Companies in different Business Central environments.
You set up the consolidated company in the same way that you set up other companies. The chart of accounts is independent of the chart of accounts in the business units. The chart of accounts in the business units can differ from one another.
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Tip Consolidating financial data can be especially relevant for intercompany processes. To learn more about |
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intercompany features, go to Managing Intercompany Transactions. |
Set Up Company Consolidation
Before you can consolidate the general ledger entries of two or more companies (subsidiaries) into a consolidated company, you must prepare the charts of accounts and the consolidation company.
Tip
Consolidating financial data can be especially relevant for intercompany processes. To learn more about intercompany features, go to Managing Intercompany Transactions
Depending on the complexity of your businesses, there are two ways to set up consolidation:
If you don't need advanced settings, such as including a company that you only own part of, you can use the Company Consolidation setup guide to quickly set up a consolidation. The guide helps you through the basic steps.
If you need more advanced settings, you can set up the consolidated company and business units yourself.
In each business unit, specify the general ledger accounts to include in the consolidation and the translation method for each account.
In the consolidated company, set up a business unit card for each company to include in the consolidation. The business unit card includes information such as the dates of the business unit's fiscal year, and the percentage of each account to include in the consolidation.
Simple consolidation setup
If your consolidation is straightforward, for example because you wholly own the business units to consolidate, the Company Consolidation guide will help you through the following steps:
Create a new consolidated company, or consolidate a company you've already created. The company shouldn't contain transactions.
Preview the results. Business Central verifies that you can successfully transfer the master data and transactions to the consolidated company.
To use the assisted setup guide, follow these steps:
Choose the icon, enter Assisted Setup, and then choose the related link.
Choose Process Consolidations, and then complete each step in the Company Consolidation assisted setup guide.
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Advanced consolidation setup
If you need more advanced settings for your consolidation, you can set up consolidation manually. For example, if you have companies that you partially own, or you have companies that you don't want to include.
Set up the consolidated company
First, you must set up the consolidated company. You set up the consolidated company in the same way that you set up other companies. To learn more about setting up a company, go to Getting Ready for Doing Business.
The following list illustrates key aspects of the consolidated company.
Set up the chart of accounts.
To learn more about setting up a chart of accounts, go to Setting Up or Changing the Chart of Accounts.
The charts of accounts can be identical across a business unit and the consolidated company, or the consolidated company can have a different chart of account. If a business unit's chart of accounts differs from the consolidated company's, you must map the accounts to the accounts in the business unit. To learn more, go to the Prepare general ledger accounts for consolidation section.
Add business units.
To consolidate several companies' data, you must set up the subsidiaries as business units and specify how much of their balances to include. To learn more about business units, to go the Add business units section.
Specify exchange rates, if needed.
Specify exchange rates if you'll consolidate data for business units that use different currencies. The three exchange rates you can use are Average Rate (Manual), Closing Rate, and Last Closing Rate. To learn more about exchange rates, go to the Specify exchange rates for consolidations section.
Consolidate dimension information and general ledger accounts.
To learn more, go to the Include or exclude dimensions section.
Add business units
In the consolidated company, set up each company that you want to consolidate data from as a business unit. Before you run a consolidation and generate your consolidation report, it's a good idea to verify the financial data in each business unit.
A big part of setting up the business unit is to specify how the unit will share it's financial data with the consolidated company. There are manual and automated options:
To use a manual process, for Business Central online and on-premises, you can export an .xml file that contains the unit's general ledger entries. Then import the file in the consolidated company.
To automate the data exchange, for Business Central online you can use an API that Business Central provides to share data across environments. If your companies are in the same environment, you can use the Database option.
Note
The API option also lets you share general ledger entries from other Business Central environments. To use the API option, the user who configures the consolidation must have permission to access G/L entries. For example, the D365 Basic and D365 Read permission sets provide access.
Sign in to the consolidated company.
Choose the icon, enter Business Units, and then choose the related link.
Choose New, and then fill in the required fields on the General and G/L Accounts FastTabs. Hover over a field to read a short description.
Important
When you fill in the Starting Date and Ending Date fields, make sure you comply with GAAP rules concerning the fiscal periods of the business unit versus the parent company.
On the Data Import FastTab, in the Default Data Import field, specify how you'll share general ledger entries with the consolidated company:
To share data between companies in the same environment, choose Database.
To share data between companies in different environments, choose API, and then fill in the API's Endpoint field.
To get the endpoint URL, in the business unit company's Business Central, open the Business Unit Card page and choose the Setup action.
To export an .xml file and manually share it, choose File Format.
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Prepare general ledger accounts for consolidation
The chart of accounts for a company that will be consolidated must specify accounts for consolidation. For each posting general ledger account in each company, you must specify the general ledger account in the consolidated company to transfer the balance to. This mapping lets you consolidate companies that have different charts of accounts.
If the chart of accounts in the business unit differs from the consolidated company, you must prepare general ledger accounts for consolidation. You can specify the accounts to post debits and credits to, and the method to use to translate currencies in the consolidated company.
In each business unit's Business Central, choose the icon, enter Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.
Open the card for the account, and then fill in the fields on the Consolidation FastTab. Hover over a field to read a short description.
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Specify exchange rates for consolidations
If a business unit uses a different currency than the consolidated company, you must specify exchange rate methods for each account before you consolidate. For each account, the content of the Consol. Translation Method field determines the exchange rate. In the consolidated company, on each business unit card, in the Currency Exchange Rate Table field, you specify whether consolidation will use exchange rates from the business unit or the consolidated company. If you use exchange rates from the consolidated company, you can change the exchange rates for a business unit. For business units, if the Currency Exchange Rate Table field on the business unit card contains Local, you can change the exchange rate from the business unit card. The exchange rates are copied from the Currency Exchange Rate table, but you can change them before consolidating.
The following table describes the exchange rate methods you can use for accounts.
Expand table
Exchange rate | Typical use |
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Average Rate (Manual) | You manually calculate the average rate for the period to consolidate. Calculate the average either as an arithmetic average or as a best estimate, and specify the result for each business unit. Use for income statement accounts. |
Closing Rate | Used for balance sheet accounts. |
Last Closing Rate | The rate that was valid in the foreign exchange market on the date for which the balance sheet or income statement is being prepared. You enter this rate for each business unit. Use for balance sheet accounts. |
Historical Rate | The exchange rate that was valid when the transaction occurred. |
Composite Rate | The current period amounts are translated at the average rate and added to the previously recorded balance in the consolidated company. You typically use this method for retained earnings accounts. Those accounts include amounts from different periods, so they contain amounts translated with different exchange rates. |
Equity Rate | This option is similar to Composite. Differences post to separate general ledger accounts. |
To specify exchange rates for business units, follow these steps:
Choose the icon, enter Business Units, and then choose the related link.
On the Business Unit List page, choose the business unit, and then choose the Average Rate (Manual) action.
On the Change Exchange Rate page, the contents of the Relational Exch. Rate field have been copied from the Currency Exchange Rate table, but you can modify them. Close the page.
Choose the Closing Rate action.
In the Relational Exch. Rate Amount field, enter the exchange rate.
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Include or exclude dimensions
You can consolidate dimension information and general ledger accounts.
On the dimensions, specify the Consolidation Code field, or leave it blank.
To exclude a dimension in the consolidation, leave the Consolidation Code field blank on the dimension, and don't choose dimensions in the Copy Dimensions fields in any consolidation functions or reports.
To include dimension information in the consolidation, leave the Consolidation Code field blank. However, the consolidation will only work if the dimension values in the business unit are the same as the consolidated company.
To consolidate the dimension value code in the business unit with a different dimension value code in the consolidated company, fill in the Consolidation Code field on the dimensions.
Add the dimensions to the general ledger accounts.
Exclude a company from consolidation
If you don't want to include a business unit in the consolidation, you can exclude it. To do that, go to the business unit card, and clear the Consolidate checkbox.
Include a partially owned company in consolidation
If you own only part of a company, you can include a percentage of each transaction that reflects the percentage you own. For example, if you own 70% of the company, consolidation includes $70 of an invoice for $100. To specify the percentage of the company you own, go to the business unit card and enter the percentage in the Consolidation % field.
Consolidate data
Before you consolidate, it's a good idea to test your data before you transfer it to the consolidated company. Business Central looks for differences in the information in the business units and the consolidated company. For example, whether account numbers or dimension codes are different. Correct any errors you find before you run the report. You can test the database or, if you're importing data from an XML file, the file.
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Open the consolidated company.
Choose the iconthe search icon, enter Business Units, and then choose the related link.
Test the file and database, as follows:
To test a file, choose the Test File action, enter the name of the file to test, and then choose Print.
To test the database, choose Test Database.
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Run the consolidation
After you've tested the data, you can transfer it to the consolidated company. An assisted setup guide will help you through the process.
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Note When you run the consolidation you can choose the companies to include. If your consolidated company doesn't have access to one or more subsidiaries, the guide will let you grant access to them. |
Sign in to the consolidated company.
On the Business Units page, choose the Consolidate action.
Fill in the required fields.
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If data for a business unit is in another database, you can do a manual file-based transfer or automate the process by using an API. To learn more about the API, go to Use our API to automatically share data across environments.
This section describes the manual, file-based process.
You export the data to a file before you include it in the consolidation. Export each company separately by using the Export Consolidation batch job.
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Tip Use the same process to export consolidated data that you must submit to Dynamics 365 Finance. For example, if the business unit is a subsidiary and the parent company uses Dynamics 365 Finance. |
After you run the batch job, all entries in general ledger accounts are processed. For every combination of selected dimensions and date, the contents of the entries' Amount fields are totaled and exported. The next combination of the selected dimensions and date with the same account number is processed. Then the combinations in the next account number are processed, and so on.
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Business Central provides an API that let's you automate the process of sharing financial data from business units to the consolidated company. The API is free to use and easy to set up. It even let's you share data across Business Central environments. For example, you might need to share across environments when business units are not in the same Azure geographies. To learn more about using the API to automate the consolidation process, go to Set Up Company Consolidation.