The fiscal statement should incorporate information “ sufficient in measure and quality to fulfill the sensible outlooks of the readers to whom it is addressed ” ( Statement of rules, 1999 ) . Harmonizing to the sentence, it is means that the fiscal statement should incorporate utile and meaningful information which included measure and quality so that the reader who we make the fiscal statement to the individual knows and understand it. How we achieve the quality information? Actually there are four features of fiscal information. The four features are understandability, relevancy, dependability, and comparison.
First, comprehensibility is including taking into consideration users ‘ abilities, and collection and categorization of information. Relevance is including holding prognostic value and collateral value. Next, Reliability is including faithful representation, being natural, free signifier stuff mistake, complete, and prudent. Comparability is including consistence and revelation. All the features are attributes that do the information provided in fiscal statements are utile to users.
Understandability includes users ‘ abilities and collection and categorization. Harmonizing to the Framework, the information provided by fiscal statements needs to be readily apprehensible by users, it besides means that users need to be able to comprehend its significance. Besides that, those fixing fiscal statements are entitled to presume that users have a sensible cognition of concern, economic activities and accounting and a willingness to analyze with sensible diligence the information provided. To assistance comprehensibility, fiscal information is aggregated and classified harmonizing to standard revelation formats which are the income statement and statement of fiscal place.
To supply a list of all the balances would be nonmeaningful to users. For illustration, the benefit of supplying a list of all the recognition client balances at the yearend limited, whereas a entire figure for all the trade receivables does supply information that can be of usage to users. They can compare the trade receivables in current twelvemonth to those last twelvemonth. This will give some indicant as to how recognition direction has changed over clip.
Relevance, from Framework information, the relevancy is if the information has the ability to act upon the economic determinations of users by assisting them to measure yesteryear, nowadays or future events or corroborating, or rectifying, their past rating. Therefore, information should hold prognostic value or confirmatory value. Information has prognostic value if it helps users to measure or measure past, present or future events. To hold anticipation value, information need non be in the signifier of an expressed prognosis. However, the ability to do anticipations organize fiscal statements is enhanced by the mode in which the information on the yesteryear is presented.
In extra, dealing freshly acquired concern, or concern that are being disposed of, are reanalyzed and individually disclosed from minutess from go oning operations. Therefore, a persevering user can find alterations in the public presentation and fiscal place of the entity that resulted from normal activities that are expected to go on into the hereafter. Information has confirmatory value if it helps users to corroborate or rectify their past ratings and appraisals. Relevant information can be more relevant when it is provided in a timely mode as it is more likely to act upon decision-making.
Materiality which included in relevancy, it is an underlying accounting construct. The relevancy information is affected by its nature and materiality. Materiality provides counsel as to how a dealing or point of information should be classified in fiscal statement and/or whether it should be disclosed individually instead than being aggregated with other similar points. A common application of materiality concerns weather an point of outgo is to be regarded as a non-current plus or an disbursal. Another common application of materiality relates to separate revelation of certain points in fiscal directions. Users are unable to absorb big sums of elaborate information. This necessitates considerable collection of informations. Materiality provides counsel on what minutess are to be aggregated by virtuousness of its stipulating which points should be disclosed individually.
Dependability is to be utile, information must besides be dependable. The information has the quality of dependability when it is free stuff mistake ; free from deliberate or systematic BASICs ; can be depended upon by users to stand for dependably that which it either purports to stand for or could moderately be expected to stand for. To be dependable, information should dependably stand for the implicit in dealing or event, reflect the substance of the implicit in dealing or event, be impersonal, be prudent and complete. To be dependable, information provided in fiscal statements needs to be impersonal. In other word, free from prejudice.
Prudence which included in the reliable is the historically one of the cardinal accounting constructs. The Southern Cross of prudence is prepares of accounting information should exert prudent positions when doing judgements about unsure points such as commissariats for dubious debts, plus lives or the figure of guarantee claims that might happen. It is besides highlighted as one of the qualitative features of accounting information. Prudence is profoundly embedded in accounting and perchance even in the personality of many comptrollers. It is one of the chief grounds why comptrollers are frequently described as conservative, prudent, cautious, and pessimistic and so on.
However, the of import point is that these mentions to non exaggerating income or assets, and non understanding disbursals or liabilities basically refer to non exaggerating the net income in the income statement and fiscal place in the statement of fiscal place. Completeness, the fiscal statements must be complete within the bounds of materiality and cost. An skip can do the fiscal statements to be false or deceptive and therefore undependable and deficient in footings of its relevancy.
Following, comparison is that users must be to compare the fiscal statement of an entity over clip and comparative to other entities in order to decently measure the entity ‘s comparative fiscal place, public presentation and alterations in fiscal place. Therefore, fiscal statements should include the current twelvemonth statements, the comprehensive income statement and statement of fiscal place, presented beside the anterior twelvemonth statements and it is besides called as comparatives. To be able to see similarity prepared fiscal statements over clip allows users to do judgements about tendencies in public presentation and in alterations in fiscal place and utilize this information to foretell into the hereafter.
Consistency, it is in the application of accounting policies is critical for bring forthing comparable information. Any alterations to the accounting policies and the impact of these alterations should be disclosed. Disclosure is included in the accounting policies. It is aid to accomplish comparison. To help in the devising of comparings despite incompatibilities, users need to able to place any differences between the accounting policies adopted by an entity to account for some minutess relative to others, accounting adopted from period by an entity and the accounting policies adopted by different entities. Some faculty members regard revelation as a cardinal qualitative feature of fiscal statements.
