Master Data Architecture

Every figure resolves to one place it belongs.

Consolidation is only ever as sound as the master data beneath it. Before a single elimination runs, the model has to agree on what an entity is, what an account is, and where a posting lives. This is the structure we build — and the structure we look for first when a landscape isn't tying out.

Design · Nomenclature · Transparency

The model

Hierarchy, accounts and postings

Organisational hierarchy
Consolidation Group The reporting boundary — what rolls up into the consolidated result.
Consolidation Unit The elimination and reporting entity — one legal or management unit.
Profit Center The lowest posting dimension, carrying the attributes the consolidation reads.
CountryCurrency keyConsolidation method
Chart of Accounts

FS items — the financial-statement line every posting maps to.

Functional Areas

Cost and P&L classification carried alongside the FS item.

Subitems

Balance-sheet movements and functional-area breakdowns beneath each FS item.

Document Type · Posting Level

What a posting is, and where in the consolidation it sits — PL00 through PL30.

Consolidation logic

Where the eliminations happen

Posting Level 20 · 30

Intercompany Elimination

Two-sided elimination of intercompany balances and P&L at unit level, trued up at the group.

Posting Level 30

Consolidation of Investments

Elimination of the parent's investment against subsidiary equity, at the group level.

Start at the foundation

If the numbers aren't tying out, this is where we look first.

A short review of the master data usually explains more than a month of reconciliations.

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