Consolidation of Financial Statements at Different Levels of Government

The main objective of this technical note is to identify, explore, and present an integrated process to facilitate the consolidation of financial statements in the public sector and the compilation of government finance statistics (GFS), considering jurisdictions' experiences and international good practices from Brazil, Georgia, Spain, and Switzerland. In doing so, the technical note highlights some challenges that jurisdictions have faced in the reconciliation process and the means of address. The integrated consolidation and compilation process uses the delineation of the public sector and its subsectors presented in government finance statistics manual (GFSM) 2014 to prepare consolidated financial statements, instead of the delineation of the economic entity through the principle of control in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) 35. The aim of the suggested process is to facilitate the reconciliation process between accounting and GFS. However, the process considers aspects from the consolidation process under IPSAS 35 also outlined in this technical note. The consolidation and compilation process is illustrated fourteen steps grouped into six phases: (i) initial setup according to the statistical framework; (ii) maintenance and preparatory work according to accounting standards and statistical framework; (iii) financial data consolidation according to accounting standards; (iv) financial reporting according to accounting standards; (v) statistical data compilation; and (vi) statistical reporting