When analysing company data, it’s easy to run into an issue: double-counting employees. This happens when a company’s subsidiaries are included in the total count, making lists harder to interpret and potentially skewing analysis. To help with this, we’ve introduced a new feature in our platform in V5 that simplifies group structures and ensures cleaner, more accurate data.
What are subsidiary companies?
Subsidiary companies operate under a parent company but are separate legal entities. Many businesses structure themselves this way, especially in industries like retail, where each store might be registered as an individual company.
Take Specsavers as an example. With over 1,000 companies in its group structure, its subsidiaries often represent different store locations. The issue? Employees attributed to these subsidiaries are also counted at the parent company level, leading to inflated workforce numbers.
Introducing the ‘Remove Subsidiary Companies’ filter
To make things simpler, we’ve launched a new company filter: ‘Remove subsidiary companies.’ This helps eliminate duplicate employee counts, ensuring your lists are streamlined and more accurate.
Why should you remove subsidiaries?
A common question our users ask is: “How many people work in a given sector?”
To answer this, they typically sum up employee counts from company lists. But corporate structures can complicate this. A single business might operate across multiple entities, leading to inflated numbers for financial variables like workforce size or revenue.
A real-world example: BP’s employee Count
To illustrate the impact of double counting, let’s look at BP.
BP’s 2023 financial statement reports 79,400 employees under its consolidated accounts. However, if we add up the employee numbers from BP’s 194 UK-based corporate entities, the total jumps to 87,600 – about 10% higher than reality due to double counting.
BP’s group structure is complex, with six levels of corporate entities beneath the parent company. To get a true representation of its workforce, the consolidated statement removes duplicate employee counts across its subsidiaries.
Where does our group structure data come from?
We source our group structure data from CreditSafe, which extracts information from financial statements. This ensures accurate company hierarchies and allows us to simplify complex group structures without introducing errors.
You can read more about group structure in our knowledge base.
The takeaway
If you’re working with company lists and need an accurate view of employee counts, removing subsidiaries is crucial. Our new filter helps simplify complex corporate structures, reducing errors and giving you clearer, more precise insights.
With this feature, you can focus on what matters – accurate data, better analysis, and smarter decision-making.
Interesting in seeing the data for yourself? Get in touch or sign up for a free trial today.
