Importance Considering the changes in legislation that have taken place in recent years and a new requirement to prepare consolidated financial statements in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards, it is relevant to study the origination and evolution of such financial reporting practices. The research focuses on practices of preparing consolidated financial reporting in Russia. Objectives The research aims at tracing the sources of the Russian practice of preparing consolidated financial statements; studying the evolution of such financial statements per group of entities, reason for its emergence; identifying those who set up the first methods, and circumstances that made to transform the methods. Methods The methodological framework relies upon proceedings and works by renowned Russian scholars in accounting and financial reporting who examine consolidated financial reporting issues, i.e. V.V. Kovalev, M.I. Kuter, V.D. Novodvorskii, S.I. Puchkova, Yu.I. Sigidov, etc. The research uses such scientific methods as analysis and synthesis, identification of the cause-effect relationship, monographic method and comparison. Conclusions and Relevance We conclude that the Russian entities started preparing financial statements of a group of companies in 1936, using methods that are similar to the existing consolidation methods. The research distinguishes the stages that the Russian financial reporting of groups (combined and consolidated) have undergone in the course of its evolution and reviews patterns of its development.
Boiko I.P. Rossiiskie kontserny: vossozdaem to, chego ne bylo [Russian consortia: we are restoring what has never existed]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 5 Ekonomika = Vestnik of Saint-Petersburg University. Economics Series 5, 1999, iss. 1, pp. 22–36.
Burlakova O.V. Sovremennye metodologicheskie problemy konsolidirovannogo ucheta [Contemporary methodological issues of consolidated accounting]. Moscow, Bukhgalterskii uchet Publ., 2008, 368 p.
Voloshin D.A., Nikolaeva O.E. Konsolidirovannaya finansovaya otchetnost': istoriya vozniknoveniya i razvitie [Consolidated financial reporting: the history of emergence and development]. Auditorskie vedomosti = Audit Journal, 2011, no. 10, pp. 71–83.
Generalova N.V., Karel'skaya S.N. Primenenie professional'nogo suzhdeniya v raznye periody razvitiya normativnogo regulirovaniya bukhgalterskogo ucheta v Rossii [Applying professional judgments in different periods of accounting regulatory practices in Russia]. Mezhdunarodnyi bukhgalterskii uchet = International Accounting, 2013, no. 33, pp. 10–19.
Generalova N.V., Karel'skaya S.N. Evolyutsiya regulirovaniya konsolidirovannoi finansovoi otchetnosti v Rossii [The evolution of regulations of consolidated financial reporting in Russia]. Mezhdunarodnyi bukhgalterskii uchet = International Accounting, 2014, no. 29, pp. 13–28.
Gribanovskii A.M. Konsolidirovannaya finansovaya otchetnost': s chego vse nachinalos' [Consolidated financial statements: how did it all begin?]. Korporativnaya finansovaya otchetnost'. Mezhdunarodnye standarty = Corporate Financial Statements. International Standards, 2010, no. 2, pp. 57–61.
Istoriya i filosofiya ekonomiki [History and philosophy of economics]. Moscow, KnoRus Publ., 2008, 664 p.
Kaufman I.I. Statistika russkikh bankov. V kn.:Statisticheskii vremennik Rossiiskoi imperii. Vypusk 1 [Statistics of the Russian banks. In: Statistical Annals of the Russian Empire. Issue 1]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel’skii tsentr Statisticheskogo komiteta Ministerstva vnutrennikh del Publ., 1875, vol. 2, 545 p.
Kovalev V.V., Kovalev Vit.V. Analiz balansa, ili kak ponimat' balans [Balance sheet analysis, or how to understand balance sheet]. Moscow, Prospekt Publ., 2009, 448 p.
Kuter M.I., Gurskaya M.M., Aleinikov D.N. Pervye sinteticheskie balansy – ideologiya vualirovaniya uchetnykh dannykh [The first synthetic balance sheets implied an ideology of concealing accounting data]. Mezhdunarodnyi bukhgalterskii uchet = International Accounting, 2012, no. 38, pp. 56–64.
Kuter M.I., Deliboltoyan A.E. Pervyi opyt rascheta amortizatsii v sisteme dvoinoi bukhgalterii [The first attempt of assessing depreciation within the double entry system]. Mezhdunarodnyi bukhgalterskii uchet = International Accounting, 2011, no. 25, pp. 62–67.
Kuter M.I., Gurskaya M.M., Sidiropulo O.A. Kubanskii universitet issleduet bukhgalteriyu munitsipaliteta Genuya za 1340 g [The Kuban University explores the Accounting Department of the Genoa municipality that existed in 1340]. Ekonomika ustoichivogo razvitiya = Economy of Sustainable Development, 2011, no. 7, pp. 75–81.
Kuter M.I., Klimova Yu.V. Dvoistvennaya konsolidatsiya [Dual consolidation]. Mezhdunarodnyi bukhgalterskii uchet = International Accounting, 2011, no. 19, pp. 23–26.
Mueller G., Gernon H., Meek G. Uchet: mezhdunarodnaya perspektiva [Accounting: An International Perspective]. Moscow, Finansy i statistika Publ., 2003, 136 p.
Ol' P.V. Statistika aktsionernykh obshchestv i paevykh tovarishchestv, obyazannykh publichnoyu otchetnost'yu. Za 1911-12 god [Statistics of joint stock companies and companies limited by shares that are bound to file financial statements. For 1911–1912]. Petrograd, Tipografiya redaktsii periodicheskikh izdanii ministerstva finansov Publ., 1915, 469 p.
Petukhov G.N. Teoretiko-istoricheskoe razvitie konsolidirovannoi finansovoi otchetnosti [Theoretical and historical development of consolidated financial statements]. Vestnik Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo agrarnogo universiteta = Vestnik of Kazan State Agrarian University, 2009, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 58–61.
Svodnyi balans obshchesoyuznoi promyshlennosti na 1 oktyabrya 1924 goda s predisloviem G.L. Pyatakova [Consolidated balance sheet of the Soviet Union industries as of 1 October 1924 with the foreword by G.L. Pyatakov]. Moscow, Leningrad, Tsentral'noe upravlenie Pechati VSNKh SSSR Publ., 1925, 140 p.
Sigidov Yu.I., Nastenko D.A. Aktual'nye problemy formirovaniya konsolidirovannoi finansovoi otchetnosti [Current issues of preparing consolidated financial statements]. Mezhdunarodnyi bukhgalterskii uchet = International Accounting, 2013, no. 9, pp. 2–13.
Sokolov Ya.V. Bukhgalterskii uchet: ot istokov do nashikh dnei [Accounting: from the origin to the present day]. Moscow, Audit, YUNITI Publ., 1996, 638 p.
Stotskii V.I. Balans promyshlennogo predpriyatiya [Balance sheet of an industrial enterprise]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo politicheskoi literatury Publ., 1941, 128 p.
Edwards J.R. The Process of Accounting Innovation: the Publication of Consolidated Accounts in Britain in 1910. The Accounting Historians Journal, 1991, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 113–132.
