Question

The Directors of Brisbane Ltd (a listed company) have come to your accounting firm to seek advice on how to account for the investments they have in the five (5) entities-- Canberra Ltd, Sydney Ltd, Melbourne Ltd, Adelaide Ltd and Perth Ltd. All shares issued by each of the entities are ordinary shares with normal voting rights. All key facts as known to the company are provided below:

Canberra Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 40% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned by two institutional investors who each own 30% of the issued capital. All investors have rights to the net assets of Canberra Ltd. They take a keen interest in the running of the company and attend all meetings. The current board of directors of Canberra Ltd has seven members. Two directors on the board of Canberra Ltd are appointed by Brisbane Ltd.	Sydney Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 20% of the issued capital. Perth Ltd owns 25% of the issued capital. Three institutional investors equally hold 50% of the issued capital. These shareholders regularly attend meetings and vote. The remaining 5% of the issued capital are owned by a geographically diverse group of investors who each hold a small parcel of shares, many of whom are unlikely to attend meetings.
Melbourne Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 35% of the issued capital. Perth Ltd owns 40% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned by a small group of investors who each own no more than 5% of the issued shares. Brisbane Ltd and Perth Ltd each have two appointees on the board of directors which has five members.	Adelaide Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 50% of the issued capital. Mary Ltd owns the remaining 50% of issued capital. Brisbane Ltd and Mary Ltd have rights to the net assets of Adelaide Ltd. The shareholders of Adelaide Ltd have a contractual agreement whereby Brisbane Ltd or Mary Ltd cannot make any operating, investing or financing decisions without the expressed consent of the other party.
Perth Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 80% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned by a diverse group of investors who each hold a small parcel of shares.

Given the information above, the directors of Brisbane Ltd would particularly like to know:

• the type of investment for each entity (i.e. you need to clearly identify the investor-investee relationship) including a summary of the identifying criteria and an application of this criterion;
• the accounting method to be adopted for this type of investment

Answer 1