Introduction Minority interest refers to the interest of the outsiders in the subsidiary or subsidiaries of a holding company. In the presentation of the consolidated balance sheet of a parent company and its subsidiaries, Minority Interest is shown just below Shareholders’ Funds. Explanation To undRead more
Introduction
Minority interest refers to the interest of the outsiders in the subsidiary or subsidiaries of a holding company. In the presentation of the consolidated balance sheet of a parent company and its subsidiaries, Minority Interest is shown just below Shareholders’ Funds.
Explanation
To understand the concept of minority interest, we need to first understand the relationship between a holding company and its subsidiary company or companies.
A holding company means a company that controls one or more companies by:
- Holding more than fifty percent of the total voting rights or equity share capital.
- having the power to appoint or remove the majority of the board members.
A subsidiary company is a company that is controlled by another company.

From the above, we can simply deduce that a holding company holds the majority of the equity in its subsidiary company or companies.
So, the equity of the subsidiary company which does not belong to the holding company, but to the outsiders is known as the minority interest as it is, in fact, the minority in comparison to the majority stake of the holding company.
Example
For example, A Ltd holds 75% of the equity in B Ltd, then the rest 25% which belongs to the outsiders will be the Minority Interest.
Minority Interest means the share of outsiders in the:
- Paid-up share capital of the subsidiary
- Reserve and Surplus
For example, B Ltd has the following particulars under Shareholders’ Funds.
| Equity Share Capital | Rs. 10,00,000 |
| Revaluation Reserve | Rs. 4,00,000 |
| Balance of Profit and Loss A/c | Rs. 1,00,000 |
| General Reserves | Rs. 5,00,000 |
B Ltd is a subsidiary company of the A Ltd. A Ltd holds 75% of B Ltd.
It means minority interest in B Ltd is 25% (100% – 75%)
Therefore, in the consolidated balance sheet of A Ltd and its subsidiary, the minority interest will be as follows:
Minority Interest in B Ltd (25%)
| Equity Share Capital | Rs. 2,50,000 (10,00,000 x 25%) |
| Revaluation Reserve | Rs. 1,00,000 (4,00,000 x 25%) |
| Balance of Profit and Loss A/c | Rs. 25,000 (1,00,000 x 25%) |
| General Reserves | Rs. 1,25,000 (5,00,000 x 25%) |
| Total | Rs. 5,00,000 |
See less














When a loan is taken from a person by a business, there is an asset and liability being created. Cash is being brought into the business which increases the asset whereas the financial obligation of the company rises when a loan is taken and hence a liability increases. For example, Mark Ltd. has taRead more
When a loan is taken from a person by a business, there is an asset and liability being created. Cash is being brought into the business which increases the asset whereas the financial obligation of the company rises when a loan is taken and hence a liability increases.
For example, Mark Ltd. has taken a loan from John for $5,000. Therefore the journal entry can be shown as:
According to the modern rules of accounting, increase in assets is Debit and increase in liability is credit. The company may have taken the loan to finance its business or for some emergency. When it is time for the business to pay off the loan, they can either pay it off completely or in instalments. They must pay off the principal amount along with interest.
Now for our above example, if Mark Ltd paid off the entire loan after one year at 10% interest, then the journal entry would be:
Here, the interest on loan account is debited since an increase in expense is debited. Loan account will be debited because the obligation is now reduced and hence liability decreases. Finally, we credit cash since cash is leaving the business which implies a decrease in assets.
If the entire loan is not paid off in that year, then the balance of the loan amount will be shown in the balance sheet under the head liabilities.
See less