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 45% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned by a diverse group of investors who each hold a small parcel of shares, many of whom are unlikely to attend meetings. The current board of directors of Canberra Ltd has seven members. Six directors on the board of Canberra Ltd are appointed by Brisbane Ltd.	Sydney Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 90% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned equally between two shareholders.
Melbourne Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 40% of the issued capital. Three institutional investors equally hold 50% of the issued capital. These shareholders regularly attend meetings and vote. The remaining 10% 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.	Adelaide Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 35% of the issued capital. Sydney Ltd owns 25% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned by a small group of investors who each own 10% of the issued shares. Brisbane Ltd and Sydney Ltd each have two appointees on the board of directors which has five members.
Perth Ltd Brisbane Ltd owns 25% of the issued capital. The remaining shares are owned by three institutional investors who each own 25% of the issued capital. All investors have rights to the net assets of Perth Ltd. They take a keen interest in the running of the company and attend all meetings. The shareholders of Perth Ltd have a contractual agreement whereby each investor cannot make any operating, investing or financing decisions without the expressed consent of the other parties.

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[1]; and

which entities, if any, would form part of the Brisbane Ltd Group.

[1] Note: You are not required to explain how to apply the accounting method in detail, but rather simply identify (state) the accounting method. You must cite the specific provisions including paragraph from the relevant AASB using one of the following two examples for in-text referencing in your presentation slides: AASB 102:11 or AASB 102 para. 11.

Answer 1

		Identifying Criteria	Application of Criteria	Accounting Method
1	Canberra Ltd	1. Entity should hold directly or indirectly 20% or more voting stock.                                           2. Representation on the board of directors. 3. participation in policy-making processes. 4. Material transaction between the entity and its investee.	Brisbane Ltd. hold 40% of voting stock in Canberra Ltd, and six out of seven directors are appointed by Brisbane Ltd, thus it have control/singificant influence over decision making.	Equity Method
2	Sydney Ltd	1. Entity should hold directly or indirectly 20% or more voting stock.                                           2. Representation on the board of directors. 3. participation in policy-making processes. 4. Material transaction between the entity and its investee.	Brisbane Ltd hold 90% of the voting stock in Sydney Ltd. thus have significant control over decision making	Equity Method
3	Melbourne Ltd	1. Entity should hold directly or indirectly 20% or more voting stock.                                           2. Representation on the board of directors. 3. participation in policy-making processes. 4. Material transaction between the entity and its investee.	Brisbane hold 40% of voting stock in Melbourne Ltd. but it does not have significant influence over decision making as the 50% voting stock shareholders regularly attend and vote in the meeting	Cost Method
4	Adelaide Ltd	1. Entity should hold directly or indirectly 20% or more voting stock.                                           2. Representation on the board of directors. 3. participation in policy-making processes. 4. Material transaction between the entity and its investee.	Brisbane hold 35% of the voting stock directly and 25% indirectly through Sydney Ltd, thus it have significant control over decision making and representation on board of directors.	Equity Method
5	Perth Ltd	1. Entity should hold directly or indirectly 20% or more voting stock.                                           2. Representation on the board of directors. 3. participation in policy-making processes. 4. Material transaction between the entity and its investee.	Brisbane hold 25% of voting stock but can not make any decision without the consent of other parties	Cost Method