Session 7: Financial Reporting and Analysis: An Introduction Reading 31: Financial Reporting Standards
LOS h: Discuss the importance of monitoring developments in financial reporting standards and of evaluating company disclosures of significant accounting policies.
An analyst can find a company’s significant accounting methods and estimates in:
A) |
both the footnotes to the financial statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis. | |
|
C) |
both the footnotes and in the auditor’s opinion. | |
Companies that prepare financial statements under IFRS or U.S. GAAP must disclose their accounting policies and estimates in the footnotes and address those policies and estimates where significant judgment was required in Management’s Discussion and Analysis. The auditor’s opinion discusses whether policies have been applied appropriately, but does not include the estimates and policies themselves. |