If the amalgamation is an ‘amalgamation in the nature of merger’, the identity of the reserves is preserved and they appear in the financial statements of the transferee company in the same form in which they appeared in the financial statements of the transferor company. As a result of preserving the identity, reserves which are available for distribution as dividend before the amalgamation would also be available for distribution as dividend after the amalgamation.
Adjustments to reserves
When an amalgamation is accounted for using the pooling of interests method, the reserves of the transferee company are adjusted to give effect to the following:
- Conflicting accounting policies of the transferor and the transferee. A uniform set of accounting policies should be adopted following the amalgamation and, hence, the policies of the transferor and the transferee are aligned. The effects on the financial statements of this change in the accounting policies is reported in accordance with AS 5 ‘Net Profit or Loss for the Period, Prior Period Items and Changes in Accounting Policies’
- Difference between the amount recorded as share capital issued (plus any additional consideration in the form of cash or other assets) and the amount of share capital of the transferor company.
If the amalgamation is an ‘amalgamation in the nature of purchase’, the amount of the consideration is deducted from the value of the net assets of the transferor company acquired by the transferee company. If the result of the computation is negative, the difference is debited to goodwill arising on amalgamation and if the result of the computation is positive, the difference is credited to Capital Reserve. In the case of an ‘amalgamation in the nature of purchase’, the balance of the Profit and Loss Account appearing in the financial statements of the transferor company, whether debit or credit, loses its identity.
Certain reserves may have been created by the transferor company pursuant to the requirements of certain acts, referred to hereinafter as ‘statutory reserves’. Such reserves retain their identity in the financial statements of the transferee company in the same form in which they appeared in the financial statements of the transferor company, so long as their identity is required to be maintained to comply with the relevant statute. This exception is made only in those amalgamations where the requirements of the relevant statute for recording the statutory reserves in the books of the transferee company are complied with. In such cases the statutory reserves are recorded in the financial statements of the transferee company by a corresponding debit to a suitable account head (e.g., ‘Amalgamation Adjustment Account’) which is disclosed as a part of ‘miscellaneous expenditure’ or other similar category in the balance sheet. When the identity of the statutory reserves is no longer required to be maintained, both the reserves and the aforesaid account are reversed.
