Before you consolidate:

• All subsidiary Trial Balances should be using the same grouping list (i.e. all subs using Financial Statements or 2021 Partnership…).
• All accounts should have the same description (i.e. account 1001 should have the same description in all subs). 
• All accounts should be grouped to the same grouping (i.e. account 1001 should be grouped to the same group in all subs).
• All Trial Balances must be in the same binder. There must be at least one Regular or Write Up Trial Balance in the binder and one Consolidated Trial Balance (overall, at minimum 2 Trial Balances must exist in the binder).
• You must be the current editor of the consolidated trial balance in order to consolidate the subsidiary trial balances. You do not have to be the current editor of each subsidiary trial balance in the consolidated trial balance.

To consolidate the subsidiary trial balances, do the following:

1. If you have not already done so, insert a Consolidated Trial Balance into the binder.
   • How do I create a trial balance in CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement or Workpaper Manager?
2. In the binder index select Trial Balance > Consolidate TB, or open the Consolidated Trial Balance and select Consolidate TB from the Engagement or Workpaper Manager ribbon.
3. If there are more than one consolidated trial balances in the binder, in the Consolidate TB dialog, select the consolidated trial balance you want to use to hold the information from the Consolidated trial balance drop-down list.
4. Click the Add button to add a subsidiary trial balance. A blank row displays in the box above the button.
5. Open the Trial Balance list to view the trial balances available in this binder and select the trial balance you want.
   • The order in which you list the subsidiaries in this window will be the order in which they appear in the trial balance window and in reports.
   • Once you have selected all of the trial balances to consolidate, you can use the up and down arrows on the right side of this window to re-order the subsidiaries, accordingly.
6. In the Abbreviation field, type the abbreviation you want for the column heading in the Trial Balance window.
   • If later you want to rename the abbreviation, click the Abbreviation box and then, click the Rename button. The contents of the cell will be highlighted and you can type the new abbreviation.
7. Open the Grouping List to view the grouping codes available for this subsidiary and select the grouping list you want to consolidate by.
   • The list will always show the grouping names. If you consolidate by subgroups, select the grouping that the subgroups are in. If you consolidate by account detail, then this choice does not apply.
   • All subsidiaries should use the same grouping to consolidate.
8. Check the Overriding List box of the trial balance that you would like to take precedence over the other trial balance(s) when there are conflicts with the account descriptions, account groupings, and grouping code assignments. Only one trial balance can be selected as the overriding list. However, the order of the subsidiaries in the Consolidate TB window determines the overriding order when there are more than two subsidiaries and the overriding subsidiary does not include one or more accounts, groups and/or subgroups that exist in at least two of the other subsidiaries.
   • Notes:
     • If a group, subgroup or account exists in more than one subsidiary trial balance but does not exist in the overriding trial balance, then the first subsidiary trial balance listed (other than the overriding trial balance) will take precedence.
     • It is best practice that the overriding trial balance includes all groups, subgroups and accounts of the other subsidiary trial balances and that the accounts are assigned to the desired group/subgroup in the overriding trial balance.
     • The group, subgroup and account names should be as desired in the overriding trial balance.
     • Only one subsidiary can be selected for the preference.
9. In the Balance field, select the balance type to consolidate by.
   • The balance types available are the ones that exist in the subsidiary’s trial balance.
   • All subsidiaries should use the same balance type when consolidating.
10. To add more subsidiary trial balances, click the Add button and repeat steps 4 through 8.
    • There is no limit to the number of subsidiaries you can consolidate.
11. To remove a subsidiary trial balance that you do not want to consolidate, select the row appropriate for that subsidiary and click the Remove button.
12. Select the method to consolidate the subsidiaries by:
    • Consolidate based on Groups - The groups from the subsidiaries will become the accounts in the consolidated trial balance.
    • Consolidate based on Subgroups - The groups and subgroups from the subsidiaries will become the accounts in the consolidated trial balance.
    • Consolidate based on Account Detail - The accounts from the subsidiaries will become the accounts in the consolidated trial balance.
    • Note: Once the consolidation has been performed, the consolidation basis cannot be changed during subsequent consolidations.
13. If the consolidation has been performed by account groups or subgroups, verify that all subsidiary accounts have been grouped.
14. If you wish rounding to occur in the Consolidated trial balance, select one of the following from the drop-down list: $1, $10, $100, or $1000.
    • Each account balance will be rounded up or down to the level of rounding selected.
15. Select the Number of prior periods you want to gather during consolidation.
    • This information will be displayed in the comparative columns of the consolidated trial balance. You can have up to 36 prior periods.
    • During re-consolidation, the Trial Balance automatically resets the Number of prior periods field to zero to avoid data loss.
    • When you choose to re-consolidate prior period balances after you have already consolidated prior period data at least once before, the program will overwrite the existing prior period data with the data you are currently consolidating. 
    • Please note the prompt when changing the number of prior periods from 1 or greater.

15. Click OK to consolidate the subsidiary trial balances.
     

Notes

• The consolidated trial balance will now have a column for each subsidiary that was selected for consolidation. These columns appear before the PRE-CONSOL column, and the sum of the columns appears in the PRE-CONSOL column.
• If you need to make changes to the subsidiary data, open the subsidiary trial balance and make your changes.
• Changes in the subsidiaries do not automatically flow up to the consolidated trial balance. You will need to reconsolidate.
  •  How do I reconsolidate my Consolidated Trial Balance in ProSystem fx Engagement?
• Upon reconsolidation, subsidiary information is overwritten instead of appended. Therefore, any accounts at the detail level that have been added, modified, or deleted at the subsidiary level will also be added, modified, or deleted in the consolidated trial balance. Any work done prior to the reconsolidation will be saved, such as eliminating journal entries, reports, TB links, etc.