Question

In: Accounting

Investors, creditors, and other users of financial statements often argue that there should be more transparency...

Investors, creditors, and other users of financial statements often argue that there should be more transparency on published financial statements. This argument is based, at least some extent, on concerns that management has too much leeway in the selection of accounting alternatives.

Team 1: Argue that management should continue to be allowed to choose among different accounting alternatives because full disclosure in the notes to financial statements provides sufficient transparency.

Solutions

Expert Solution

Management should be allowed to choose among different accounting alternatives because:

  • Full disclosure in the notes combined with the alternatives chosen provide sufficient transparency to allow investors, creditors, and other users to evaluate the company’s financial position as well as its financial performance
  • The financial statements, footnotes, and supplementary schedules constitute the company’s financial report.
  • All significant information should be included in the financial report. Additionally, other relevant information, which can assist in understanding the financial report, is presented in narrative form. Such as management’s discussion and analysis and the letter to stockholders.
  • The footnotes to a company’s financial statements provide a significant amount of additional information about the items on the company’s financial statements.
  • In general, the footnotes disclose information that explains, clarifies, or develops items appearing on the financial statements, which cannot easily be incorporated into the financial statements themselves.

Related Solutions

Discuss a financial ratio, its primary users (i.e., management, creditors, investors, etc.) and what the financial...
Discuss a financial ratio, its primary users (i.e., management, creditors, investors, etc.) and what the financial ratio indicates
Financial Statement Analysis, specifically Ratio Analysis is often performed by managers, investors, and creditors.
Financial Statement Analysis, specifically Ratio Analysis is often performed by managers, investors, and creditors. What is the primary goal of each of these groups when evaluating ratios?
The four key users of financial statements are owners/managers, lenders, investors and governments. These users rely...
The four key users of financial statements are owners/managers, lenders, investors and governments. These users rely on financial statements to evaluate a company’s past financial performance as indicators in areas of profitability, liquidity, leverage, and efficiency; to create benchmarking matrixes; and to support future decision-making. Choose two companies in the same industry whose financial statements are available online. Complete several financial ratios for each company and compare them. Share your analysis and answer the following questions in a minimum of...
Management has the responsibility of accurately preparing financial statements when communicating with investors and creditors. Another...
Management has the responsibility of accurately preparing financial statements when communicating with investors and creditors. Another group, auditors, serves an independent role by helping to ensure that management has in fact appropriately applied GAAP in preparing the company's financial statements. Auditors examine (audit) financial statements to express a professional, independent opinion. The opinion reflects the auditors’ assessment of the statements’ fairness, which is determined by the extent to which they are prepared in compliance with GAAP. Suppose an auditor is...
Banks often advertise loans using APR, as do automobile dealers, and other creditors. Should you compare...
Banks often advertise loans using APR, as do automobile dealers, and other creditors. Should you compare interest rates using APR? In the discussion include information about the difference between APR and EAR.
Ethical professional judgement should not take into account: a) the users of financial statements, and their...
Ethical professional judgement should not take into account: a) the users of financial statements, and their specific information needs. b) the performance targets for the quarter's earnings. c) the nature of the organization's operations. d) the organization's reporting constraints.
The IASB assumes that financial information that helps investors and other users of general purpose financial reporting make their investment decisions is useful for all other information users. Do you agree?
The IASB assumes that financial information that helps investors and other users of general purpose financial reporting make their investment decisions is useful for all other information users. Do you agree? Discuss.
What documentation builds assurance in a client or other users of financial statements, that an auditor...
What documentation builds assurance in a client or other users of financial statements, that an auditor will carry out or carried out the audit in fairness and so the financial documents are reliable?
Financial ratio analysis is conducted by managers, equity investors, long-term creditors, and short-term creditors. What is...
Financial ratio analysis is conducted by managers, equity investors, long-term creditors, and short-term creditors. What is the primary emphasis of each of these groups in evaluating ratios?
1:        Users of financial statements Identify at least three types of users of financial statements. Describe their...
1:        Users of financial statements Identify at least three types of users of financial statements. Describe their primary use of the financial statements and how the misstatement of those statements might injure the user. 2:        Overview of the Financial Statement Audit What is a financial statement audit, and what is the overall objective of the audit? What must the auditor do to accomplish this objective?
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT