In the product
Top-side adjustments
Post and track adjustments above the ledger, each with its reason and owner, so a group-level entry is never unexplained.
Top-side adjustment
An entry made at group level rather than in a subsidiary's ledger, to correct or reclassify something for the consolidated statements.
Used when the underlying books are right for their own purpose but wrong for the group’s: a different accounting framework, a reclassification the parent needs, a fair value the subsidiary does not carry.
The risk is that they accumulate outside any ledger and nobody can reconstruct why one was made. An adjustment without a stated reason and an owner is an unexplained difference waiting to be found by an auditor.
Also written: top-side adjustments, topside adjustment.
Related terms: Consolidation, Trial balance, Schedule III.
Written about
Purchase price allocation: the decisions that shape goodwill for years
Purchase price allocation sets numbers you live with for years. The judgements that decide goodwill, and what auditors ask to see.