To verify the usefulness of consolidated information under the current consolidated financial statement standards and to provide policy implications for enhancing the usefulness of consolidated information, it is necessary to examine the information usefulness of consolidated financial structure in addition to consolidated earnings. Therefore, this study examines whether consolidated financial structure is more useful than individual financial structure in assessing the true systematic risk of parent companies. Financial leverage variables are included as explanatory variables along with industry dummy variables and operating leverage. Empirical analysis of 564 firms among December-closing listed companies that prepared consolidated financial statements during the 1993–96 period and met certain criteria revealed that the consolidated debt ratio showed a higher correlation with market beta than the individual debt ratio. Depending on the model, the significance of the individual debt ratio's correlation dropped considerably, whereas the consolidated debt ratio consistently showed a high (significant) positive correlation with market beta. Furthermore, when the consolidated debt ratio was used as a measure of corporate financial leverage, the adjusted R² was larger than when the individual debt ratio was used, and chi-square test results confirmed that this difference was significant. The difference variable between the consolidated and individual debt ratios also showed a significant correlation with market beta and demonstrated additional explanatory power. In conclusion, the consolidated debt ratio reflects corporate risk more accurately than the individual debt ratio.