The equal and independent legal person status of parent and subsidiary companies provides the foundation for the decentralization of financial management. But the parent company can only restrain its subsidiaries by exercising shareholders' rights. In actual management, the parent company realizes centralized financial management of its subsidiaries by formulating unified financial management measures.
(1) centralized control by the financial department of the subsidiary. The financial department plays an important role in supervising and controlling the business activities of enterprises. The centralized control of the financial department is equivalent to mastering the pulse of each subsidiary. In an enterprise group, the chief financial officer of each subsidiary is selected by the parent company and is responsible to the parent company; The personnel relations, salary relations and welfare benefits of financial personnel are all reflected in the parent company. Because the financial department is relatively independent of each subsidiary, it is conducive to the effective centralized management of the subsidiary by the parent company. Take a group as an example, its financial personnel are centralized and not delegated to subsidiaries. The financial department is not set up according to different subsidiaries, but is divided into settlement department, accounting department and finance department according to the reasonable division of financial responsibilities. This arrangement makes the financial affairs of the parent company and subsidiaries organically integrated, and the parent company can grasp the overall financial situation of the group in time.
(2) Unified financial accounting system. The parent company should also formulate a unified and operable financial accounting system according to the actual situation and operating characteristics of its subsidiaries, standardize the examination and approval procedures and accounting treatment procedures for important financial decisions of subsidiaries, improve the reliability and comparability of financial statements of subsidiaries, analyze the operating conditions of subsidiaries, compare their operating results, and ensure the orderly operation of enterprise groups as a whole. On this basis, a qualified enterprise group can establish a large-scale computer network system, and concentrate the financial information of its subsidiaries on the computer network. The financial supervisor of the parent company can call and query the vouchers, account books, statements and other information of any subsidiary at any time, keep abreast of the operating conditions of each subsidiary and find out the existing problems in time.
2. Strong centralization
(1) cash management
Bank account management. In view of the problem that subsidiaries of enterprise groups intercept cash by opening accounts in banks privately, the parent company should strengthen the control of opening accounts in subsidiaries. When a subsidiary opens an account in a bank, it must be approved by the parent company, and the account opening must be managed by the financial department of the parent company. For example, some groups implement the "settlement center system", open a basic settlement account in the bank in the name of the parent company, and then set up a sub-account in the name of each subsidiary, and the sub-account is controlled by the sub-account. In the eyes of subsidiaries, the settlement center is a bank, and various forms of financing such as loans and repayments must be submitted to the settlement center. The settlement center strengthened the supervision of the use of funds of subsidiaries, and also strengthened the financial strength of the group by concentrating idle funds of subsidiaries.
Cash forecast. In order to change cash management from passive to active and overcome short-term behavior, the parent company should clearly understand how large the existing funds of the group can operate, how large the financing scale is needed and the sources of funds that can be sought. For the financial department, it is necessary to keep track of the cash that can be used and must be paid at every time in each period. The centralized management of cash in subsidiaries provides conditions for cash forecasting. The parent company compares the actual income and expenditure with the forecast every day, finds out the inconsistencies, and finds out the reasons in time so as to take corrective measures.
L financing management. On the basis of cash forecast, the parent company studies the composition of the group's capital sources and chooses the best financing method. The collection and use of funds should be combined with the group's comprehensive solvency, and it is not possible to blindly borrow money and increase the financing risk. Therefore, the funds required by the subsidiary shall not be raised from outside without authorization, but must be raised within the group, and the financial department of the parent company shall be responsible for this business. In order to improve the efficiency of the use of funds, we can also use the law of value to realize the paid use of funds within the group, that is, subsidiaries must pay interest when borrowing from the parent company.
(2) Budget management
The centralized management of the financial affairs of subsidiaries by the parent company is also reflected in the fact that the parent company has the final decision to formulate the budget used to guide each subsidiary. According to the development plan of the group, the parent company puts forward the general goal in a certain period, thus compiling the company's long-term plan and annual plan, and decomposing the indicators to the subsidiaries. The subsidiary shall prepare the annual budget according to the indicators issued by the parent company and the specific conditions of the unit, and submit it to the parent company for approval. The parent company has set up a special budget management committee to review and balance the budgets of its subsidiaries and prepare the group budget. The approved budget will be distributed to all subsidiaries to guide their business activities. In the process of budget implementation, the parent company should adjust the deviation at any time according to the actual implementation to ensure the completion of the budget.
(3) Audit management The functions of internal audit institutions mainly include: 1) auditing the efficiency and effectiveness of production and operation, which is called operation audit; 2) Review the organizational structure to determine whether the organization of the enterprise conforms to the established policies, procedures, laws and regulations; 3) the effectiveness and integrity of the internal control system audit; 4) Report the audit situation to the operator of the parent company regularly or irregularly, and put forward opinions and suggestions on optimizing the internal control environment, improving working methods and improving operating efficiency. In order to improve the effect of internal audit.
3. Appropriate combination of centralization and decentralization
L investment management. The investment scale and direction of the group greatly affect the development direction of the group company. Therefore, the investment management of the Group tends to be centralized. After the parent company centrally manages the funds of its subsidiaries, the investment management can be appropriately decentralized, that is, the subsidiaries have the right to formulate investment projects below a certain amount, but they generally account for a small part of the group's investment. Some groups divide the investment authority according to the level of subsidiaries, and apply to the parent company for investment projects exceeding the prescribed limit. The parent company should establish and improve the system of project establishment, approval, control, inspection and supervision of foreign investment of subsidiaries, attach importance to the follow-up management of investment projects, prevent the phenomenon of only investing without management, and standardize the investment behavior of subsidiaries.
L profit distribution. As the main body of enterprise group, the parent company's profit distribution is the core content of the group's profit distribution. The parent-subsidiary company is formed by holding shares, which corresponds to the profit distribution method of dividend according to shares. For the parent company, the increased profits of subsidiaries should be kept in the parent company according to a certain proportion to meet the long-term development needs of the group, and at the same time, the interests of subsidiaries and employees should be gradually increased, which is the power source of group cohesion. The total amount control should be implemented for the distribution of wages and bonuses of subsidiaries, and the inspection and control system for the distribution of wages and bonuses of subsidiaries should be established and improved. Subsidiaries should strictly follow the principle of salary and bonus accrual stipulated by the parent company and distribute independently within the scope of salary accrual.