Question

The primary objective of financial reporting is to provide information.

Select one:

a. Concerning the changes in financial position resulting from the revenue-producing efforts of the entity.

b. About a firm’s management.

c. Useful to providers of capital.

d. About a firm’s tax liabilities.

e. About a firm’s financing and investing activities.

Answer 1

(c) Useful to providers of Capital.

The main objective of financial reorting is to provide useful information to the users (ie, Capital Providers) of financial reports. The information should be useful from a number of perspectives, such as whether to provide credit to a customer, whether to lend to a borrower, and whether to invest in a business. The information should be comprehensible to those with a reasonable grounding in business, which means that it should not be laced with jargon or burdened with so much detail that it is impossible to extract the essentials about a business from its financial statements.

The other objectives of Financial reporting as follows:

* To provide information about the cash flows to which an entity is subjected, including the timing and uncertainty of cash flows. This information is critical for determining the liquidity of a business, which in turn can be used to evaluate whether an organization can continue as a going concern.

* To disclose the obligations and economic resources of an entity. There should be an emphasis on the changes in liabilities and resources, which can be used to predict future cash flows.

Objectives were developed within the framework of a capitalist society, where accurate and complete information is needed in order to operate efficient capital markets. This list is an expanded version of the objectives set forth by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The FASB assumed that creditors and investors would be the primary users of financial reports, and so developed a list of objectives that matches their needs.