Reading 31: Financial Reporting Standards LOS a习题精选 reporting, objective, standards, statements, 2010

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Session 7: Financial Reporting and Analysis: An Introduction
Reading 31: Financial Reporting Standards

LOS a: Explain the objective of financial statements and the importance of reporting standards in security analysis and valuation.

Which of the following statements about financial statements and reporting standards is least accurate?

A) Financial statements could potentially take any form if reporting standards didn’t exist.

B) Reporting standards focus mostly on format and presentation and allow management wide latitude in assumptions.

C) The objective of financial statements is to provide economic decision makers with useful information.

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Given the variety and complexity of possible transactions, and the estimates and assumptions a firm must make when presenting its performance, financial statements could potentially take any form if reporting standards didn’t exist. Reporting standards ensure that the information is “useful to a wide range of users,” including security analysts, by making financial statements comparable to one another and narrowing the range within which management’s estimates can be seen as reasonable. Reporting standards limit the range of assumptions management can make.

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Which description of the objective of financial statements is most accurate? The objective of financial statements is:

A) to provide economic decision makers with useful information about a firm’s financial performance and changes in financial position.

B) to provide securities analysts with objective data about a firm’s financial prospects.

C) to provide a wide range of users with information about a firm’s financial prospects.

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The objective of financial statements is to provide economic decision makers with useful information about a firm’s financial performance and changes in financial position. Assessing its prospects is the responsibility of analysts. Financial statements fall under the purview of the FASB in the US, not the IASB. The SEC does not set the objectives of financial statements, it is a regulatory authority.

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Which of the following statements about financial reporting standards is least accurate? Reporting standards:

A) narrow the range within which management estimates can be seen as reasonable.

B) are disclosed on Form 8K by publicly traded firms in the United States.

C) ensure that the information is “useful to a wide range of users.”

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Reporting standards ensure that the information is “useful to a wide range of users,” including security analysts, by making financial statements comparable to one another and narrowing the range within which management’s estimates can be seen as reasonable. Securities & Exchange Commission Form 8K addresses acquisitions, divestitures, etc. and not reporting standards.