Is a spreadsheet still enough? A four-company test

When is a spreadsheet enough?

It is enough more often than software vendors say. Consolidation is arithmetic: add the companies, translate, remove what they owe each other and show the outside owners’ share¹. A workbook can do all of it, and a good one is easier to audit than a bad system.

The conditions are these.

• Four companies or fewer, so no more than six possible intercompany pairs.
• One or two foreign currencies, with one rate table kept in one place.
• Wholly owned subsidiaries, or one partly owned subsidiary whose percentage has not changed.
• One person builds the workbook, fills it each month and understands every formula.
• A reviewer who is not the builder checks it, and a copy of each closed month is saved and not edited.

If that describes your group, use a workbook. Our own consolidation workbook is a free Excel file built for exactly this case. Software earns its cost only when one of the conditions fails.

What does a four-company test look like?

Take four companies from the example group: Zenvara in the United Kingdom (pounds), Fernhollow in the United States (dollars), Palmridge in the Emirates (dirhams) and Kestrelwick in Singapore (Singapore dollars, 80% owned). The group reports in pounds. For September 2026 revenue, the spreadsheet has to translate three foreign companies at the average rateAverage rateThe exchange rate for a period, usually the month, used to translate a foreign subsidiary's income and expenses into the group's presentation currency.Open the glossary entry and then remove the sales between group companies.

Zenvara, as bookedGBP	625,000
FernhollowUSD 460,000 at 0.7540	346,840
PalmridgeAED 4,800,000 at 0.2025	972,000
KestrelwickSGD 900,000 at 0.5850	526,500
Revenue before eliminations	2,470,340
Less Zenvara’s services to PalmridgeAED 400,000 at 0.2025	(81,000)
Group revenue	2,389,340

Example group used across Finconsol guides. Four of the group’s five companies shown. Figures rounded to the pound.

This is a fair job for a spreadsheet. It needs three rates (USD, AED and SGD, each at its average for the month), one line for the intragroup sale and one reviewer. Add the balance sheet and each foreign company also needs a closing rate and the prior month’s closing rate, so the rate table grows to nine rates, and the translation reserveTranslation reserveThe part of group equity that holds exchange differences from translating a foreign subsidiary into the group's currency.Open the glossary entry needs its own check each month². A careful person does all of this in an afternoon.

Where does a spreadsheet start to strain?

Not at a particular number of rows. It strains at six points, and any one of them can arrive before the group is large.

• Partly owned subsidiaries. Kestrelwick is 80% owned, so 20% of its profit and net assets belong to others. The share must follow the percentage, and the percentage changes when shares are bought or sold during the year.
• Intercompany pairs. The number of possible pairs is n x (n – 1) / 2: 6 for four companies, 10 for five, 45 for ten. Each pair needs both sides, in currency, every month.
• A second preparer. Two people editing one workbook produce two versions, and the question “which one is right?” costs more than the formulas did.
• Rates. A rate typed into one cell is easy to check. A rate copied to forty cells and changed in thirty-nine is not.
• Closed months. A workbook cannot stop anyone from editing last month. The control is a habit, and habits fail in the year-end rush.
• Other data. Headcount, occupancy or budget in the same pack means more tabs to keep in step.

Notice that none of these is about the volume of figures. It is about how many people, and how many things that must agree, depend on one file.

What is the six-question test?

Answer each question for your group today. A “yes” to the second part of a question marks a point where a spreadsheet starts to strain.

1. Companies: more than four?
2. Currencies: more than two foreign currencies?
3. Ownership: any subsidiary under 100%, or a share that changed this year?
4. Intercompany: more than six pairs, or different systems booking each side?
5. People: more than one preparer, or a reviewer who cannot see the formulas?
6. Audit: must you show who changed what, and prove a closed month stayed closed?

Zero or one “yes”: stay on the workbook. Two: look at it again at the next year-end. Three or more, or a “yes” to people or audit: the cost of the workbook is now the cost of checking it, and that is when a tool pays.

How does Finconsol handle this?

Finconsol takes the same inputs the workbook takes: each company’s trial balance, from Zoho Books directly or uploaded from Xero, QuickBooks or any other system. You map each company once to a group chart of accounts. It holds one rate table, translates, eliminates the intercompany pairs, works out the non-controlling interest and produces the board pack.

In FinconsolHow translation works →

Group revenue by company, Sep 2026, GBPAgrees

Company	Local currency	Rate	Group revenue (GBP)
Zenvara	GBP 625,000	1.0000	625,000
Fernhollow	USD 460,000	0.7540	346,840
Palmridge	AED 4,800,000	0.2025	972,000
Kestrelwick	SGD 900,000	0.5850	526,500
Intercompany services	AED 400,000	0.2025	(81,000)
Group revenue			2,389,340

What changes is who can do it and how it is checked: a locked month cannot be changed, the change log records closes, locks, mappings and settings with when they happened, and the whole thing runs from the books each night (Zoho Books) or from the upload. If the six questions say you are not there yet, keep the workbook. The post on different accounting systems shows what a trial balance needs when you do move.