Under the pooling method, the assets and liabilities of the parent and subsidiary are simply combined.

Unlike the purchase method, the assets and liabilities of the acquired company are not restated to fair value, but maintained at book value.  The method simply adds the asset and liability book values appearing on the parent’s and subsidiary’s balance sheet.

No goodwill is created under the pooling method on the consolidated balance sheet.

Operating results from the income statement are combined retroactively.

IFRS and GAAP have disallowed the pooling (or uniting) of interests accounting method.