Standalone Financial Statements
Accounts of the parent company alone, with investments in subsidiaries carried at cost rather than consolidated.
How it is identified
Test: subsidiaries appear as a single investment line at cost or fair value, not as line-by-line assets and liabilities
Unit
qualitative
In depth
Standalone accounts are required by company law and are relevant for dividend capacity and tax, since dividends are declared out of the parent's own distributable profits. They are misleading as a picture of the group, because a subsidiary's debt, losses and contingent liabilities sit outside them. The most common analytical error is comparing one company's standalone earnings per share against another's consolidated figure, which is not a comparison at all. Where standalone and consolidated profit diverge sharply and persistently, the subsidiaries are the story.
Worked example
A parent shows standalone EPS of ₹40 and consolidated EPS of ₹15. A screener quoting the standalone figure prices the stock at 20 times earnings; on the consolidated figure the same price is 53 times.
Illustrative figures, chosen so the arithmetic is easy to follow. Not a live price and not a valuation of any company.
Educational reference only
This entry explains what “Standalone Financial Statements” means. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any numbers above are illustrative, not live prices, and nothing here predicts price direction or rates a stock. Consider your own circumstances and consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser before acting.