Which statement best reflects a valid use of alternate hierarchies in FCCS?

• A. Single entities having multiple parents
• B. All members must share a currency
• C. Data must be re-entered for shared members
• D. Parent members must be in the same time period

Answer: (A)

Alternate hierarchies let a single member have more than one parent, enabling cross-cutting groupings for reporting without duplicating data. This is precisely what makes a single entity having multiple parents the valid use: you can place the same entity under different parent paths (for example, under both a geography-based path and a product-line path) so you can analyze results by either route. Data stays consistent because you’re not creating separate copies; the same entity’s figures roll up through each applicable path.

In practice, think of a subsidiary that belongs to two different reporting structures—geography and business unit—so you can generate consolidations and reports along either hierarchy. The other statements aren’t about how alternate hierarchies function: currency sharing relates to the currency dimension, not hierarchy structure; data re-entry isn’t required for shared members since you rely on the existing data for all paths; and there’s no stipulation that parent nodes must align in the same time period as a rule of alternate hierarchies.