Reporting Across Several Companies: Consolidated Visibility for Groups

A group MD asks a simple question: "how did we do last month?" In a business with one company, the answer is one report. In a group of three, it's three reports built three different ways, and adding them up gives a number nobody fully trusts. This guide covers how to get a view across the group that holds up.

Two kinds of group view

It helps to separate two things that often get mixed up.

Side-by-side visibility. The same figures for each company, laid out next to each other: collected, outstanding, overdue, payroll cost, VAT position. This is what most group MDs want week to week, and it's achievable without a full accounting consolidation.

Consolidated accounts. One set of group financial statements, with transactions between group companies removed. This needs a general ledger for each company, consistent accounting, and an accountant's work. It's usually produced monthly or quarterly, not weekly.

Start with the first. Most groups that jump straight to the second end up with a spreadsheet nobody can audit.

Step 1: Set every company up the same way

Comparisons only work if the companies are configured consistently. Before reporting, agree:

• The same chart of accounts structure, even if some accounts are unused in a given company.
• The same definitions. "Collected" means cash received and matched to an invoice in every company.
• The same approval rules, so "awaiting approval" means the same thing everywhere.
• The same month-end date and cut-off.

Step 2: Compare like with like

A simple side-by-side view for Adebayo Group, November 2026 to date:

The figures are illustrative. What the table shows is the question it prompts: AB Foods holds two-thirds of the group's overdue debt and has the longest approval queue. That's where the next conversation goes.

Two cautions when reading a table like this:

• Don't add up percentages or averages across companies. Add the underlying figures, then recalculate.
• Check the currency. If one company bills in US dollars, convert at a stated rate and date, or show it separately.

Step 3: Handle intercompany items

Transactions between group companies are the most common source of double-counting.

Suppose Adebayo Haulage invoices Adebayo & Co. Logistics ₦2,150,000 for depot fuel. In the side-by-side view:

• Haulage shows ₦2,150,000 as revenue and, once paid, as collected.
• Logistics shows the same amount as a cost and a payment.

Add the two companies together and the group appears to have earned ₦2,150,000 from itself. In a group view, that's not real income.

Practical steps:

1. Mark intercompany customers and suppliers clearly (for example, a naming convention or a customer type), so they can be filtered.
2. Report intercompany totals separately, both as a row in the side-by-side view and as a check: what one company says it billed should equal what the other says it owes.
3. Leave the formal elimination to the consolidation, done by your accountant from the ledgers.

Tax treatment of intercompany charges, including VAT and transfer pricing, depends on the facts. Get advice rather than assuming.

Step 4: Decide what not to consolidate

Not everything belongs in a group total:

• Approval queues are per company; add them for a headline, but act on them per company.
• Payroll is per employer for PAYE, pension and NHF. A group payroll total is useful for cost, but statutory figures stay with each company.
• VAT and WHT positions are filed by each company. A group "VAT owed" figure is a planning number, not a return.

Who owns the group view

Name one person, usually the group finance manager, who owns the definitions and the side-by-side report. Their job isn't to build it by hand; it's to make sure every company records work the same way, so the figures can be trusted. When a number looks wrong, they decide whether the problem is the record or the definition, and fix it once for every company.

How often to look

• Weekly: the side-by-side view, focused on overdue and approvals.
• Monthly: the side-by-side view with payroll and VAT positions, plus intercompany reconciliation.
• Quarterly or annually: consolidated accounts from your accountant.

For the reports a single company should review monthly, see financial reports every owner should review. For choosing software for a group in the first place, see running several companies.

How Flux helps

Flux runs several organisations under one login, each with its own numbering, approvers and reports, so the same figures come out of every company the same way. You switch between companies to see each one's dashboard, VAT and WHT reports and exports. Consolidated group accounts depend on the general ledger, which is on the roadmap. See how groups are set up on the multi-entity groups page.