1. Financial reporting quality is related to the overall quality of the financial statements including disclosures which depict the fair presentation of the firm. Whereas in low financial reporting quality accounting figures are distorted or changed in such a way that their economic underlying reality is not correctly exhibited. For instance if the depreciable life of an asset is estimated in such a way which contradicts with its real economic life then it can be said that financial reporting quality is affected. In many cases there are alternatives available in the accounting standards or estimation and judgment is involved of the management. However, management can exploit these alternatives or judgments to change figures according to their desired outcome. For instance if management want to show lower earnings they can choose alternatives between inventory valuation methods (LIFO in case of rising prices) or lower depreciable lives. Management is usually in a position to manipulate figures because they are the ones who are responsible for preparing financial statements. American ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that publicly owned businesses provide annual reports, which are available to the public. Many different people use annual reports, to make informed business decisions. Management from the company uses the information to determine a number of items. Some of these items are the profitability of the company, the inventory turnover rate, and the accounts receivables rate. Creditors use the annual report to determine how well a company can satisfy its current liabilities, as well as, how the company is doing in the aspect of long tem survival. Another group of people who use the annual reports furnished by companies are the investors, who can purchase shares of stock from the publicly company. Annual reports are very important to these people, because they are an over all picture to help them determine the over all stability and reliability of the company’s financial outlook. These annual reports are important because they do not only contain the financial statements of the company, but there is a management ‘s note to discuss reasons for any unexpected numbers, and an auditor’s report, from an independent accounting firm, who either agrees or disagrees with the financial numbers. Market reporter Matt Krant said, “Ignoring these reports is akin to driving down the freeway blindfolded.”
Financial statement users around the globe use financial statements to evaluate the performance of companies (Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 2006). In order to locate a company’s reported assets, liabilities, expenses and revenues, statement users rely on four types of financial statements. The four financial statements include: Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of Retained Earnings, and Statement of Cash Flows (Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 2006, p. 6). Each of these reports provides different information to the financial statement user. The Balance Sheet reports at a point in time: a company’s assets (what it owns), liabilities (what it owes) and stockholder’s equity (what is left over for the owners) (Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 2006, p.7). The Income Statement shows whether a business made a profit (net income) during a specific period of time (Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 2006, p. 10). The Statement of Retained Earnings illustrates what portions of the company’s earnings was paid to stockholders and retained by the company for future operations (Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 2006, p.12). Finally, the Statement of Cash Flows reports summarizes how a business’ “operating, investing, and financial activities caused its cash balance to change over a particular range of time” (Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 2006, p.13).
Auer (1996) for instance, conducted a study on Swiss firms which switched from Swiss GAAP to either the European Directives or to IFRS. The focus of this study (Auer, 1996) was on market volatility and the basic assumption was that the major indicator of higher information processing by market forces was higher price volatility which by extension is an evidence of greater value‐relevance of accounting data. The results from the study of Auer (1996) however revealed that the variance of abnormal returns changed significantly for firms that switched to the European Directives or IFRS. In Bahrain, Joshi & Basteki (1999) conducted a survey on 36 companies in which questionnaires were designed and administered. Their study found that majority of the respondents (86%) believed that the application of IASs gave the contents of their financial statements more relevance. Contrary to the above, Barth, et al (1998) examined whether the application of IAS is associated with higher accounting quality, but found amongst others that firms applying IAS exhibit less earnings smoothing and a higher degree of association between accounting numbers with share prices and returns. In a similar vein, some studies conducted in Australia (Goodwin & Ahmad, 2006; and Goodwin, Ahmed & Heaney, 2008) found that differences between IFRS and Australian
Due to the use of the company’s annual report for users to make decisions, ensuring that the financial reports convince the objective of general purpose financial reporting and qualitative characteristics of useful financial information as outlined in the IASB September 2010 ‘Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting’ (CF) have become extremely important. Such failure of disclosures can mislead information on the company’s financial statements.
According to the conceptual framework, the potential users of financial statements are investors, creditors, suppliers, employees, customers, governments and agencies, and the general public (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2006). The primary users are investors, creditors, and those who advise them. It goes on to define the criteria that make up each potential user, as well as, the limitations of financial reporting. The FASB explicitly states that financial reporting is “but one source of information needed by those who make investment, credit, and similar resource allocation decisions. Users also need to consider pertinent information from other sources, and be aware of the characteristics and limitations of the information in them” (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2006). With this in mind, it is still particularly difficult to determine whom the financials should be catered towards and what level of prudence is necessary for quality judgment.
...r financial reporting were efficient and the maintenance of records is in reasonable detail, accurate and fairly reflect the transaction and the disposition of the company’s assets. It also provides reasonable assurance of the transaction recorded which made it possible to prepare the financial in accordance with GAAP. Also the expenditure has properly authorized and provides assurance of any violation to be present in the company and provide assurance regarding timely detection of unauthorized acquisition which could material effect on the financial statements.
Fraudulent reporting, also known as a management fraud, aims improving the company results. For that purpose, management overstate assets and revenue, and understate liabilities and expenses. GAAP assigned auditors responsible for detecting financial statement fraud. However, we suggest investors and creditors assisting auditors or government authorities in identifying financial statement
In today’s day and age, there is a lot of news that is related to corporate accounting fraud as companies intentionally manipulate their financial statements to show a better picture of their financial health. The objective of financial reporting is to provide financial information about a company to its various stakeholders such as investors and creditors so that these stakeholders can make decisions accordingly. Companies can show a better image of their financial well being by providing misleading information. This can be done by omitting material information from the books or deceitful appropriation of assets such as inventory theft, payroll fraud, check forgery or embezzlement. Fraudulent financial reporting will have an effect on the
The fraudulent financial reporting is the information in financial statement that will misleading, omission, and misrepresenting the users in order to attract potential investors and fulfil the shareholder’s expectation wealth. The company may has intended to use wrongly the accounting principle which related to classification, method of depreciation,
Material information influences the economic decisions of the users and is therefore relevant to their needs (Relevance). It is also linked with reliability. Omission or misstatement of an important piece of information reduces users’ ability to make correct decisions taken on the basis of financial statements thereby affecting the reliability of information. Moreover, information contained in the financial statements must be complete in all material respects in order to present a true and fair view of the affairs of the company. This is known as
Comparability is an accounting principle. The fundamental accounting reports need to be reliable; if they are not reliable it is not comparable. If the company cannot make a comparison then the accounts come impaired. For example, the Financial Accounting Standards Board requires that expenses associated to research and development (R&D) should be expensed when incurred, but some companies expensed R&D when gained. While some other companies deferred it to the balance sheet and expensed them at a later date. Furthermore, the accounts have to be reliable and standardised so the investment decision makers can make valid inter-company comparison. To make this comparison meaningful accounts are prepared with guidelines laid down by the Financial Reporting Standards.
It provides management with valuable information needed to engage in decision-making about the organization’s vision and overall strategies. Although the traditional reporting displays vital information about the financial health and activities of an organization to its potential users, it does not provide adequate record and measurement of non-financial metrics such as employee turnover and plant locations, which also contribute greatly to the overall value of the organization. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2016) explains “In traditional financial reporting, the value is defined more in terms of “book value” and is historical in nature. Further, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A), and supplementary disclosures for traditional financial reporting are based on historical performance and variances in the statutory financial position according to the application of GAAP.” It is also important to differentiate financial report and financial statement. While the financial report consists of Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), financial statements, notes, Required Supplemental Information (RSI) and Other Accompanying Information (OAI), the financial statement is only a compilation of reports
Financial and Managerial accounting are used for making sound financial decisions about an organization. They provide information of past quantitative financial activities and are useful in making future economic decisions. (Albrecht, Stice, Stice, & Skousen, 2002) The same financial data is used to derive reports for each accounting process yet they differ in some ways. Financial accounting primarily provides external reports for external users such as stock holders, creditors, regulating authority and others. (Garrison, Noreen, & Brewer, 2010) On the other hand Managerial accounting is concern with providing information that deals with the internal viability of the organization and is tailored to meet the needs of an individual organization. (Albrecht, Stice, Stice, & Skousen, 2002)
If the purpose of the information given is to affect user’s decision in a particular way then it could not be reliable. It is more ideal for financial reporting to produce both more relevant and reliable information. However, it may be essential to give up some of one quality for a gain in another. The potential conflicts do usually exist between relevance and reliability.
Shadunsky, A. 2011, “What Information in an Annual Report Can Be Misleading to Investors?” [online]; Available at: http://bit.ly/LPNz6u; [Accessed 4 February 2014];