<p><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p>The development towards an international accounting standard implies that Swedish groups of companies that are not quoted on the stock exchange can use a parent company perspective or an entity perspective while making their group accounting. The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the motives behind the groups of companies choice of perspective and to show how these motives agrees with the effect it has on the profit and loss account and on the balance sheet.</p><p>The study includes four fictitious groups of companies based on real groups of companies. Every group of companies includes 1-3 subsidiary companies, where at least one is owned by the parent company with 51-70 %. Some assumptions were made before the consolidation.</p><p>Relevant key numbers have been calculated according to both perspectives and then compared. A total of three semi structured interviews have been carried out two with representatives for the real groups of companies and one with a chartered accountant. The purpose was to clarify the motives that are behind the choice of perspective.</p><p>The conclusion is that the choice of perspective is not an active choice for the group of companies in the study, there are therefore no active motives. The entity perspective provides better results on two out of the three examined key numbers, but the difference is only marginal. The change of perspective is a problem in theory but not in reality.</p><p><em>Keywords: parent company perspective, entity perspective, key numbers, group accounting, group of companies </em></p>

Abstract The development towards an international accounting standard implies that Swedish groups of companies that are not quoted on the stock exchange can use a parent company perspective or an entity perspective while making their group accounting. The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the motives behind the groups of companies choice of perspective and to show how these motives agrees with the effect it has on the profit and loss account and on the balance sheet. The study includes four fictitious groups of companies based on real groups of companies. Every group of companies includes 1-3 subsidiary companies, where at least one is owned by the parent company with 51-70 %. Some assumptions were made before the consolidation. Relevant key numbers have been calculated according to both perspectives and then compared. A total of three semi structured interviews have been carried out two with representatives for the real groups of companies and one with a chartered accountant. The purpose was to clarify the motives that are behind the choice of perspective. The conclusion is that the choice of perspective is not an active choice for the group of companies in the study, there are therefore no active motives. The entity perspective provides better results on two out of the three examined key numbers, but the difference is only marginal. The change of perspective is a problem in theory but not in reality. Keywords: parent company perspective, entity perspective, key numbers, group accounting, group of companies