The consolidation of annual accounts in the Swiss Federal Government

Abstract: Financial reporting in the public sector is influenced by the private sector accounting standards. The Swiss Federal Government has recently started to prepare consolidated financial statements. The purpose of this study is to describe how the Swiss Federal Government is doing its consolidated financial statements. Theoretically there are different consolidation theories and methods. The choice of consolidation method can explain which consolidation theory is used when the financial statements are put together. The research is done on the latest consolidated financial statements, 2010, from the Swiss Federal Government and in combination with an interview with the Head of Consolidation of the Swiss Federal Government. The finding in this research is that the Swiss Federal Government has an Entity Theory approach when consolidating its financial statements.