Meaning of Branch:

‘Foreign branch’ tends to summon up a picture of an office or factory located in an overseas territory, conducting its own operations with its own staff. But SSAP20 defines branch more widely than this. For example, a shipping company might account for an individual ship, and all the receipts and expenses associated with that ship, as a branch, where the ‘part business’ represented by the ship operates in a foreign currency.

SSAP20 BASIC PRINCIPLES

Translating transactions

The basic principles for translating foreign currency items in an individual company’s accounts are set out in SSAP20.