This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
ristoro
vale a dire lungo l’intero arco della vita

Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

di terzi

English translation:

minority interests / non-controlling interests

Added to glossary by Anna ZANNELLA
May 17, 2013 14:22
11 yrs ago
32 viewers *
Italian term

di terzi

Non-PRO Italian to English Bus/Financial Finance (general) di terzi
From consolidated financial statement as follows:
Patrimonio netto di gruppo (bold)
Capitale e riserve di terzi
Utile / (perdita) di terzi
Patrimonio netto di terzi
Patrimonio netto consolidato

Am I wrong to read this as *minority interests* here above?

It does appear later as follows.
Risultato dell'esercizio (bold)
Risultato netto di competenza di terzi

Thanks.
Proposed translations (English)
5 +2 minority interests / non-controlling interests
3 of third party/parties
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (2): James (Jim) Davis, P.L.F. Persio

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

FinWord May 20, 2013:
Non-controlling interests it is my preference and it is the standard. However, a lot of translators erroneously claim certain terms have been done away with. The IASB themselves have specifically written on more than one occasion that certain terms have not been down away with but that, for the purposes of the standards, they will use a specific term (e.g., balance sheet is acceptable and use "statement of financial position" is not mandatory...so says the IASB). In other cases, such as extraordinary/exceptional, the old language is expressly taboo!
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 18, 2013:
Its just an attempt at simulated equilibrium through terminology - this is much easier than explaining/figuring out why long term reduction in interests rates does not effectively impact/improve the aggregate demand for goods (supply demand) as it is meant to ... leading to long recessions ... ;)
James (Jim) Davis May 18, 2013:
Any accountant anywhere will understand both terms perfectly. Wikipedia originated in the US but anybody can write it. The US distinction I made doesn't apply to this term, but as I said there are big differences between US Gaap and IAS. I always follow IAS personally because Italy and UK do. As for dates, I just remember the auditors insisting on changing terms for no good reason.
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 18, 2013:
Sure .... and I believe you .... but there was a change in terminology .... as early as 2007 in the US. (Wikipaedia is US - right? and yet it is still using it). You said 2 years ago for the EU/UK. Both terms (new and old) get a lot of Google hits. Some websites use *noncontrolling (minority) interests* :) I'm going for the parenthesis mid-ground with explanatory notes for the agency.

James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
@ Menander: FASB You need to be careful, the FASB is the US financial standards board. Both Italy and UK are subject to IAS and IFRS standards and there are big differences, except that they both like splitting hairs. If you have the absolute "majority" of the voting rights you "control". If you have less than 50% of the voting rights you are in the "minority" and you don't control. The only conclusion you can reach is that they have to justify their salaries somehow and they are not very good at it.
I can't see any gain in understanding or clarity here suffiicent to offset the cost involved in the increase made in the learning curve and just the work involved for report writers and translators, by making this very pedantic change.
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
@Paul The only thing that changed in the standards was the term. They did loads of meetings and calls for opinions and then they went ahead and did it, confident that this would solve... (well something somewhere, but not the economic crisis). They did search and replace on minority interests, replacing it with "non-controlling interests".
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 17, 2013:
Example from 2007 Astra Zeneca Net Income $5,627
Attributable to:
Equity Holders of the Company $5,595
Noncontrolling Interests 32

Oddly enough the main argument for the 'new speak' seems to be/might also be - to distinguish it from "controlling interest" -
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 17, 2013:
In fact - if you Google *Noncontrolling (Minority) Interest* and/or find http://macabacus.com/accounting/noncontrolling-interest it discusses recording noncontrolling interests before stating:"Terminology The FASB replaces the term minority interest with noncontrolling interest."

[.... NCI is recorded in the shareholders' equity section of the parent's balance sheet, separate from the parent's equity, rather than in the mezzanine between liabilities and equity. The amounts of consolidated net income attributable to the parent and to the noncontrolling interest must be clearly identified and presented on the consolidated income statement. Previously, net income attributable to the noncontrolling interest was generally recorded as an expense or other deduction in calculating consolidated net income.]
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
That the use of one or other term does not alter the accounting principle. "Minority interests" is may be out-of-date as a term, but it doesn't conceal something that "non-controlling interest" discloses.
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
Conflict in reporting principle No idea what that means. It doesn't Google. "minority interests" is just out-of-date. People just stopped using it, just like the "profit and loss account" which IFRS decreed against. Of course it will survive in living memory.
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
The UK is certainly in the lead in terms of compliance and Italy in general is a case apart when it comes to financial reporting. Either way, there is no conflict in reporting principle, as far as I am aware, between "minority interest" and "non-controlling interest".
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
"Your" translation is not IFRS compliant and the term is also no longer used in major UK financial reports. Basically everybody seems to have switched to "non-controlling interests" in just the last two or three years. When IFRS make a change sometimes everybody follows and sometimes nobody does. They tried to change balance sheet to statement of financial position, but very few followed (a minority of US FRs have always used it).
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
It is standard practice to follow native target language docs. Exactly. I search similar UK financial reports for terms first. Then the IFRS standards. Then official EU translations/harmonisations and lastly (a long way behind) other translations of Italian reports.
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
Statement of Comprehensive Income. Total Comprehensive Income XXX - Attributable to: ZZZ; minority interest. Shareholders' equity including minority interest. Attributable to: ZZZ; minority interest. Anyway, by your own logic, I take it that the income statements that you translate are not god benchmarks, because they're translated.
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
Wanna know how many income statement commentaries I do each year? I don't even wanna count (three just last week). Of course "your" income statement (and I used to do some of them in "your" group) is translated (well it seems) and not the best benchmark, when hundreds of native English docs are just clicks away.
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
You're right. In our income statement it's "Net profit attributable to minority interest". But that's the only time in the entire report.
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
@Paul This is from another bank's income statement (Lloyds)
Profit attributable to non-controlling interests
(Loss) profit attributable to equity shareholders
As I said before it is standard practice to use the "attributable to" phrase on the face of the income statement.
But not on the balances sheet where you have:
Shareholders’ equity
Non-controlling interests
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
Yeah, we have it worded in such a way that there is only a list, but "attributable to" when it's in an explanatory note or other text.
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
@Paul On the balance sheet you will just have "minority interests" but with profits you have "profit attributable to:" and then a list "Non-controlling interests, Preference shareholders, Paid-in equity holders, Ordinary and B shareholders" This is from RBS 2011 and was actually a loss.
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 17, 2013:
Paul O'Brien Thanks also ..... you should have posted it :)
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 17, 2013:
I have just come across .... this Interessenze di pertinenza di terzi.... also - hence minority interests / non-controlling - I get the update... THANKS
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
In our CFS "competenza di" is not translated. Hence "Capitale e riserve di terz"i, "Utile / (perdita) di terzi" and "Patrimonio netto di terzi" are all translated as "minority interests". The name of the parent company or "minority interests" is simply inserted in a list.
James (Jim) Davis May 17, 2013:
No you are not wrong However, I think posting it as non-pro is wrong. Try asking a barman if he happens to know "il risultato netto di competenza di terzi della Fiat nel ultimo trimestre".
Anna ZANNELLA (asker) May 17, 2013:
I know that *competenza di terzi* is minority interests, just wondering about where it occurs with the "competenza di" - its in the same overall context I would imagine it being consolidated fin. statement
Paul O'Brien May 17, 2013:
"Minority interests", where I work.

Proposed translations

+2
22 mins
Selected

minority interests / non-controlling interests

"non-controlling interests" is the latest IFRS terminology recently changed from the age old "minority interests"
As for "competence" this is usually "profits attributable to non-controlling/minority interests"

The term "minorities" is also used, but not a lot.
Note from asker:
yup, thanks Jim. Needed a back-up opinion.
Peer comment(s):
agree Ann Pollak : or "profits accruin to non-controlling interests"
1 min
agree P.L.F. Persio
1 hr
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks"
10 mins

of third party/parties

singular: of third party - plural: of third parties
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search