Combined Statement Definition

What is a Combined Statement?

A combined statement includes information on a customer’s various retail banking accounts onto a single periodic statement. Banks and financial institutions offer combined statements for the convenience of the customer and cost efficiency of the bank. Businesses and individuals may request to receive combined statements.

How a Combined Statement Works

The combined accounting statement includes all deposits, withdrawals and other transactions, as well as beginning and ending balances. Instead of the bank having to print and mail or email separate statements for each account, the customer receives one record of all pertinent information. This economy of work effort makes customer record-keeping easier and lowers bank distribution costs.

Example of a Combined Statement

For example, if the customer has a mortgage, a home equity line of credit (HELOC), retail account, an individual retirement account (IRA), and trust account, then the bank would forward one statement which shows details of all the accounts activity.

Another example would be when a business has multiple checking accounts. One account can act an an operating account, while the other handles normal cash flow activities. Each month when the business receives its account statement, it will include both accounts’ transaction activities on the same statement.

Combined vs. Consolidated Company Financial Statements

Businesses with subsidiary arms may use combined statements. The combined financial statement collectively lists the activities of a group of related companies into one document. While combined, the financial statements of each entity remain separate. Each subsidiary or related business appears as a stand-alone company.

The benefit of a combined financial statement is that it allows an investor to analyze the results of the corporation on the whole, and then gauge the performance of the individual companies separately.

In contrast, a consolidated financial statement aggregates the financial position of both the parent company and its subsidiaries into one report. This combination allows an investor to check the overall health of the whole company rather than viewing the financial statements of each segment of the business separately. The results of the subsidiary businesses activities become part of the parent company’s income statement, balance sheetand cash flow statement.

Neither a combined or a consolidated financial statements includes intercompany transactions. Intercompany transactions are those interactions happening between the parent and the subsidiary, or the companies when they act as a group. If they remain on the books, they may be accounted for twice, once for the parent and again for the subsidiary.

In both consolidated and combined statements, a non-controlling interest account, also known as a minority interest account, is created. This account tracks interest in a subsidiary that the parent does not own or control.

In consolidated statements, there are no increases in items for such things as stock value and retained earnings. However, in a combined statement, the stockholders’ equity is added across the accounts.

When consolidating statements, income and expenses from the subsidiary add to the parent company’s income statement. Similarly, when combining financial statements, income and expenses are added across the companies for a group total. This addition causes an increase in the group’s income as compared to if the companies had reported individually.