A group cash forecast across UK, US, Australian and New Zealand entities converts each entity's reconciled ledger cash and forecast into one display currency at a stated rate, shows that rate against every converted figure, and lets you open any entity in its own currency. Intercompany balances are not eliminated, the accounting question of which rate applies to which period is not decided for you, and hedging and the tax cost of moving cash between countries are outside it altogether. Those stay with your accountant and your bank. What it gives a finance team is one line for the group that moves for two reasons, cash and exchange rates, and the means to tell which was which.

That last point is the whole subject of this page. A sterling group line can fall while every subsidiary's bank balance rises, and it can rise while cash is leaving, because the rate moved. If you cannot separate the two, the group view is a number, not a forecast. The sections below show what the view does with a foreign-currency ledger, work one quarter for a four-entity group, and set out what the view cannot show so nobody reads more into it than it holds.

The group this page is written for

The business has a UK parent and three overseas subsidiaries: one in the United States, one in Australia and one in New Zealand. Each entity keeps its own books on Xero or QuickBooks Online, as its own organisation or company file, in its own base currency. The finance team is three people at the parent. They see four ledgers, four currencies and four tax calendars, and the board wants one number.

Two things are already settled by the accounting platforms. Each Xero organisation and each QuickBooks Online company records its accounting in one base currency, chosen when it is set up, and the two platforms do not consolidate across organisations natively. So the group view has to be built somewhere else, from each entity's ledger, and every figure it carries arrives through that entity's own accounting platform. Float reads each ledger through a one-way connection that never writes back, once a day at an hour you choose, with a manual sync whenever you want one. Nothing comes from a bank connection, because Float does not connect to banks. If you want the mechanics of connecting entities and including bank accounts, they are in our guide to consolidating across entities and bank accounts. This page assumes the entities are connected and deals with what happens to the currencies.

Where the spreadsheet version goes wrong

Professional guidance treats a spreadsheet as the usual starting point for a cash forecast. ICAEW's own guidance on cash flow modelling says such forecasts are often prepared in Excel, and that spreadsheets are notoriously error-prone. No published survey describes how small groups build a multi-currency group view, so we will not put a share on it. What can be described is where the workbook breaks, because the mechanisms are documented even if the frequency is not.

The first is the rate cell. A workbook that converts four currencies holds several rates at once, and it should: the accounting standards themselves use a closing rate for balances and a transaction-date or average rate for flows. The failure is not that there are several rates but that nobody owns them. One tab carries last month's rate, another carries the rate someone looked up on the day, and ICAEW's spreadsheet review guidance puts the control plainly: it must be obvious which currency each sheet, each input and each output is in. In most group workbooks it is not.

The second is retranslation. When you convert the same foreign balance at this month's rate instead of last month's, the sterling figure moves even though not a cent has left the account. The accounts treat this correctly, and the rule is worth knowing because it is the rule the group view follows too. IAS 7, the cash flow statement standard, says in paragraph 28 that unrealised gains and losses arising from changes in foreign currency exchange rates are not cash flows, and it requires the exchange effect on cash to be shown separately so that opening and closing cash reconcile. A workbook rarely shows that line. It shows a group total that has changed, and leaves the finance manager to work out why.

The third is intercompany. When the parent funds a subsidiary, one ledger records cash out and the other records cash in, usually on different days and always in different currencies. Add the entities together and both sides appear. Read the subsidiary's line on its own and the funding looks like trading income. Consolidated accounts eliminate these balances in full, and even then IAS 21 is explicit that an intragroup balance in a foreign currency cannot be eliminated without the currency difference showing through, a point the IFRS Interpretations Committee restated in April 2026. A cash workbook does not eliminate anything, so it has to be read knowing that.

The fourth is the calendar. HMRC, the IRS, the ATO and Inland Revenue run four different payment calendars, and a UK finance team reading four subsidiaries in sterling will place the overseas outflows in the wrong week unless it knows each one. The next sections show how much that matters inside a single quarter.

One quarter for a four-entity group

Everything in this example is invented except the statutory dates, which are real for the fourth quarter of 2026. The exchange rates are illustrative and are chosen to make the mechanism visible, not to predict anything. The display currency is sterling.

On 1 October the group holds cash as follows, converted at the illustrative rates of £1 to $1.30, A$1.95 and NZ$2.15.

Over the quarter the parent pays its VAT and payroll and funds the Australian subsidiary with £20,000 on 12 November, which lands as A$39,000 at the rate on the day. The US subsidiary collects well and adds $10,000. The Australian subsidiary pays its September-quarter BAS and its super on every payday, and still ends A$4,000 up once the parent's funding is counted. The New Zealand subsidiary pays GST, PAYE and a slow quarter, and ends NZ$6,000 down. By 31 December the illustrative rates have moved: £1 now buys $1.36, still A$1.95, and NZ$2.10.

Read the US line. The subsidiary is $10,000 better off and its sterling line is £791 worse off, because the dollar weakened against sterling over the quarter. Read the New Zealand line the other way: it lost NZ$6,000 but the sterling line fell by less than that would suggest, because the New Zealand dollar strengthened. The group line fell by £38,545. Convert the closing balances at the 1 October rates instead and the group would stand at £600,062, so £31,047 of the fall is cash that left the group and £7,498 is the rate. No cash moved for that £7,498. That is the paragraph 28 point, on a page rather than in a standard.

The intercompany funding shows on both sides. The parent's line carries £20,000 out on 12 November. The Australian line carries A$39,000 in on the day it arrives. The group total is unchanged by the transfer, because the same pounds are in a different account, but the Australian subsidiary's own quarter looks A$39,000 healthier than its trading was, and a reader who does not know about the funding will misread it. Nothing in the view nets the two sides. You do, by knowing.

What the group view shows

With each entity connected, you create a consolidation from the dashboard, choose the companies to include, name it, and pick a display currency. Companies that report in a different currency are converted into the one you chose, with the rate used shown against the converted figures. Within a single entity the same rule applies to foreign-currency bank accounts, invoices and bills: they are converted into that entity's base currency for display, and opening any of them shows the original currency and the exchange rate used.

The consolidated view shows each company's net cash movement by section, in monthly or weekly views, with a toggle between the cumulative group position and each company's individual balance. Click into a company name and you are in that entity's own cash flow, in its own currency, with its own invoices, bills and budgets. Export the group view through Share for the board pack.

What that gives the finance team in the example above is the second table without the workbook. The group line is there, each entity's line is there in sterling, each entity's own forecast is one click away in its own currency, and the rate applied is visible where it was applied. Multi-entity consolidation is part of Float's Scale plan, which includes up to five entities with further entities at a per-entity price; current plans are on the pricing page.

What the group view does not show

Four boundaries, stated as plainly as the capability.

It does not eliminate intercompany balances. Float's consolidation is a cash position, not a set of group accounts: it does not produce statutory consolidated financial statements and it does not eliminate intercompany balances. Both sides of a group transfer appear on the entities' own lines, as they do in the example.

The accounting policy decision about rates stays yours. The view shows the rate used against each converted figure. Which rate your statutory accounts apply to which item, closing rate for monetary balances and transaction-date or average rates for flows under FRS 102, IAS 21 and their Australian and New Zealand equivalents, is a question for your accounts, and no standard prescribes a rate for an internal cash forecast. Any rate in a forecast is a management choice, and ICAEW's guidance on prospective financial information suggests, sensibly, that an internal forecast should usually follow the entity's own accounting policies. This page makes no claim about when rates refresh in the view or whether past figures are restated when a rate moves.

It does not reflect hedges or forward contracts. If the group has bought forward cover, that sits in a treasury policy and, if it qualifies, in hedge accounting, neither of which a converted cash view represents. This page offers no view on whether to hedge.

Tax on cash that crosses a border is outside the view entirely. Interest on intercompany loans, withholding tax on interest or dividends paid across a border and the pricing of intragroup recharges are matters HMRC, the IRS, the ATO and Inland Revenue each have rules on. A cash view shows the cash moving. It does not show the tax that follows it, and this page gives no guidance on that.

For most groups this size, one further thing is worth knowing. Under the Companies Act 2006 a UK group qualifies as small if it meets two of three tests, aggregate turnover of £15 million net or less, a balance sheet total of £7.5 million net or less, and no more than 50 employees, for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, and a small parent is exempt from preparing group accounts. So the statutory consolidation question is often answered by the exemption. An overseas subsidiary can still carry its own filing obligation in its own country, which your accountant will know. What the finance team needs each week is the group cash picture, and that is the question the view answers.

Market by market: what moves the group line inside a quarter

The overseas lines in the example move on four calendars. These are the cadences a UK finance team most often misreads from a sterling desk, taken from each authority's published position. Frequencies depend on each entity's size; the ones shown are the ones a subsidiary of this shape usually falls into.

United Kingdom. VAT returns are usually every three months, and the return and the payment are due one calendar month and seven days after the end of the period. In the example, the quarter to 30 September falls due on 7 November, which in 2026 is a Saturday, and HMRC's rule is that payment must reach it on or before the deadline even if that is a weekend or bank holiday, so the cash leaves on the Friday. PAYE is due by the 22nd of the following tax month. Corporation tax for a company outside the instalment regime is due nine months and one day after the year end. Instalments apply only where profits exceed £1.5 million, and that threshold is divided by the number of associated companies wherever they are resident. A parent with three overseas subsidiaries should check that one with its accountant.

United States. There is no federal VAT, and sales tax is a state and local matter with no single calendar, so the example carries no sales-tax date. Federal payroll taxes are deposited on a monthly or semiweekly schedule set by a lookback test: a monthly depositor pays by the 15th of the following month, and a semiweekly depositor pays the following Wednesday for Wednesday-to-Friday paydays and the following Friday for Saturday-to-Tuesday paydays, with a next-business-day rule once a day's liability reaches $100,000. A corporation expecting to owe $500 or more pays estimated tax on the 15th day of the fourth, sixth, ninth and twelfth months of its tax year, so a calendar-year subsidiary pays on 15 December inside this quarter.

Australia. A business with GST turnover under A$20 million usually lodges a quarterly business activity statement, due on 28 October, 28 February, 28 April and 28 July, and where a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday the ATO allows the next business day. PAYG withholding is paid quarterly at A$25,000 or less a year and monthly up to A$1 million. The change that matters most in 2026 is superannuation. For earnings paid from 1 July 2026, under Payday Super, an employer's super guarantee contribution must be received by the employee's fund within seven business days of paying the employee. What used to be one outflow 28 days after each quarter is now an outflow shortly after every payday, and a forecast that still carries the old quarterly pattern for an Australian subsidiary is wrong by a quarter's super on timing alone.

New Zealand. GST is filed two-monthly for most businesses under NZ$24 million (six-monthly is available under NZ$500,000), and payment is due on the 28th of the month after the taxable period, with two exceptions: a period ending 31 March is due on 7 May and a period ending 30 November is due on 15 January. In the example the subsidiary's period to 30 September is due on 28 October and its period to 30 November falls due on 15 January, outside the quarter. Employers below NZ$500,000 of PAYE and ESCT a year pay by the 20th of the following month; larger employers pay twice a month. Provisional tax under the standard method for a 31 March balance date falls on 28 August, 15 January and 7 May, so none of it lands in this quarter.

Two of those authorities treat a weekend deadline in opposite ways: HMRC requires the money before the weekend, the ATO allows the Monday. That is the kind of detail that decides whether the group line dips on Friday or on Monday, and it is exactly what a workbook built from the UK desk gets wrong.

Frequently asked questions

Can Float consolidate companies that use different currencies?

Yes. When you create a consolidation you choose a display currency, and companies reporting in other currencies are converted into it, with the exchange rate used shown against the converted figures. Each company's own cash flow stays in its own currency, and you can open any entity from the group view to see it.

What happens to the group figure when an exchange rate moves?

The converted line for that entity changes even if its local cash balance has not. In the worked example, the US subsidiary gains $10,000 over the quarter and its sterling line falls by £791 because the dollar weakened. Accounting standards treat this the same way: IAS 7 says unrealised gains and losses from exchange-rate changes are not cash flows, and reports the exchange effect on cash as a separate line. The group view shows you the rate applied so you can separate cash movement from rate movement.

Which exchange rate does a group cash forecast use?

For statutory accounts, the standards set the rate: closing rate for monetary balances such as cash, and transaction-date or average rates for flows. No accounting standard prescribes the rate for an internal cash forecast, so the rate in a forecast is a management choice, and ICAEW's guidance on prospective financial information suggests an internal forecast should usually follow the entity's own accounting policies. Float shows the rate used against each converted figure; this page makes no claim about the rate's source or refresh timing.

Does Float handle intercompany eliminations?

No. Float's consolidation is a group cash position, not statutory consolidation, so it does not eliminate intercompany balances or produce group accounts. When the parent funds a subsidiary, the parent's line shows the cash out and the subsidiary's line shows the cash in; nothing is netted, and the finance team reads both sides knowing what they are.

Does each entity need its own accounting platform connection?

Yes. Every entity's data arrives through that entity's own Xero organisation or QuickBooks Online company, connected one at a time, each in its own base currency. Float does not connect to banks; the bank accounts and their reconciled balances come through each ledger. Xero and QuickBooks Online are the live connections; a direct Sage Intacct connection is in development, and you can join the waitlist.

How many entities can be consolidated?

The Scale plan includes multi-entity consolidation for up to five entities, and further entities can be added at a per-entity price. Plan details and current prices are on the pricing page.

Does a small UK group have to prepare consolidated accounts?

Often not. Under the Companies Act 2006, for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, a group is small if it meets two of three tests: aggregate turnover of £15 million net or less, a balance sheet total of £7.5 million net or less, and no more than 50 employees. A small parent is exempt from preparing group accounts, subject to the conditions in the Act. Overseas subsidiaries may still have their own local filing obligations, which your accountant will confirm. The group cash view is a management tool either way, not a statutory document.

How current is the consolidated view across four countries?

Float imports from each connected ledger automatically once a day at an hour you choose, with a manual sync at any time. Only reconciled data enters the forecast, so each entity's line is as current as that entity's bookkeeping. With four time zones, each company's import hour is worth setting in its own company settings to follow that entity's bookkeeping day, and reconciling each ledger daily or at least weekly keeps the group line dependable.

See all four entities on one line, in one currency, with the rate shown. Start your free 14-day trial, or book a demo and we will build the group view on your own entities.