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Appendix D — Voting Interest Entity Model

D.1 General Consolidation Principles

D.1 General Consolidation Principles

The flowchart below shows the detailed steps that a reporting entity should follow when evaluating a legal entity under the voting interest entity model.

Footnotes

2
Hereafter, unless otherwise specifically noted, “voting interests” refer to voting shares for legal entities other than limited partnerships and kick-out rights for limited partnerships.
3
For a discussion of what is meant by “similar” entities, see Section 5.3.1.2.1.
4
As discussed in Section 5.3.1.2, if a simple majority or lower threshold (including a single limited partner) of “unrelated” limited partners (i.e., parties that are not under common control with, or acting on behalf of, the general partner) with equity at risk is unable to exercise substantive kick-out rights or substantive participating rights, the limited partnership is a VIE. Thus, limited partnerships that were consolidated by the general partner under the voting interest entity model before ASU 2015-02 are now subject to consolidation under the VIE subsections of ASC 810-10. Accordingly, a general partner will not consolidate a limited partnership under the voting interest entity model. See Chapter 7 for a discussion of when a general partner would consolidate a limited partnership that is a VIE.
5
If the right to remove the general partner of a limited partnership requires the exercise of more than a simple majority of kick-out rights, the limited partnership is a VIE. See additional discussion in Section 5.3.1.2.
6
Potential voting rights could, however, affect the assessment of whether a legal entity is a VIE when those interests represent variable interests in a legal entity.
7
Paragraph BC49 of ASU 2015-02 states that “[b]arriers to exercise may be different when considering kick-out rights as compared with barriers for liquidation rights and should be evaluated appropriately when assessing whether the rights are substantive.”
8
As stated in ASC 810-10-25-14B, “[t]he requirement to dissolve or liquidate the entire limited partnership upon the withdrawal of a limited partner or partners shall not be required to be contractual for a withdrawal right to be considered as a potential kick-out right.” Therefore, a reporting entity must determine, on the basis of the facts and circumstances, whether the practical result of the withdrawal will be the required dissolution of the partnership (e.g., the partnership has only one limited partner and the general partner has a nominal interest) or its liquidation.