Financial report

“ Speaking of what became this section, the Report said, 'The commission, under this section, may also require such special reports as it may deem advisable. By this means, if the ordinary data furnished by a corporation in its annual reports does not adequately disclose its organization, financial condition, business practices, or relation to other corporations, there can be obtained by a special report such additional information as the commission may deem necessary.' Id., at p. 4. An annual report of a corporation is a recurrent and relatively standardized affair. ”

“ While businesses need to have internal control procedures for financial reporting, having outside auditors certify these controls has proven to be excessively expensive. In fact, many businesses have informed me that this requirement costs more than 10 percent of their profits! ”

“ REPORTING. -- In conjunction with each annual financial statement
issued under this section, the TARP shall --
(A) state the responsibility of management for establishing and
maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting; and
(B) state its assessment, as of the end of the most recent year
covered by such financial statement of the TARP, of the effectiveness
of the internal control over financial reporting. ”

“ Board and at least once every quarter, of reports and recommendations regarding the
financial statements and records, the budgetary and accounting procedures, the risk
management and other controls within the CBI, the efficiency and cost effectiveness
at which the CBI operates, and any other matter within its competence and area of
responsibilities on which a report may be requested by the Board; and
e. any other assignment that may be given to the internal audit department by the
Board, provided that such assignments do not disrupt its principal task set forth
herein. ”

“ Kinds of Records.—A business must have assets and usually must incur liabilities; a plant must be used, stock-in-trade must be bought, and sold, and usually sufficient capital must be provided for the extension of credit to customers. Capital for the payment of the operating expenses of the business, the maintenance of the plant, the payment of salaries and wages of employees, and so forth must at all times be provided. While it is true that the balance sheet shows the financial condition of the business, it gives little information as to the volume of business operations. ”

“ A student of Indian Finance has two chief sources of information and guidance open to him. One is the Annual Budget Statement, and the other is the annual volume of Finance and Revenue Accounts. Though separately issued, the two are really companion volumes inasmuch as the Financial Statement forms, so to speak, an exhaustive explanatory memorandum of the annual financial transactions, the details of which are recorded in the volume of Finance and Revenue Accounts. ”

“ In our judgment, the Exchange, should, however, adopt methods to compel the filing of frequent statements of the financial condition of the companies whose securities are listed, including balance sheets, income and expense accounts, etc., and should notify the public that these are open to examination under proper rules and regulations. ”

“ Article 22
⁠An audit institution shall exercise auditing oversight over the assets, liabilities, profits, losses, and other revenue and expenditure of the state-owned enterprises, state-owned financial institutions, and the enterprises or financial institutions controlled or dominated by the state-owned capital. ”

“ Previous legislative sanction for both expenditure and receipts in all their particular forms is absolutely necessary; so is thorough scrutiny of the actual application of the funds provided. Either by administrative survey or by judicial examination care is taken to see that there has been no improper diversion from the designed purposes. It is only when the varied systems of financial organization are studied in their general bearing, and with regard to what may be called their frame-work, that their essential resemblance is thoroughly realized. ”

“ The matter is one first for a skilled master, who should make a full report upon the value of the property, the receipts and the expenses of operation, and the sums paid out on reconstruction and replacements, and in dividends in recent years. ”

“ Report on Audits by Treasury.—A report of each such audit for a fiscal year shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury to the President and to the Congress not later than 6 months following the close of such fiscal year. The report shall set forth the scope of the audit and shall include a statement of assets and liabilities, capital and surplus or deficit ”

“ The next risk with a commercial company like ours would be the question of the cost of administration. You might very fairly say, ‘We know that the future is all right. We feel that so huge a country, mineralised like that, must come out successfully; but what is the cost of administration, what is the difference between revenue and expenditure?’ That is the next question which business men would ask. In connection with that you will no doubt have examined the reports, but it is always very difficult to obtain a practical idea from a report, respecting a question like this. ”

“ There is some difference of opinion as to whether the figure of net operating profit should be arrived at before considering any of the items of financial management, i.e., as to whether such items as interest income and expense, cash discount items, bad debts, etc., which are more or less common to every business, should be included before determining net operating profit or should be set up separately after its determination. ”

“ Arrangements which are to last even for half a century, to say nothing of permanent arrangements, cannot be based upon calculations resting upon data so fleeting and uncertain as the statements of revenue and expenditure of corporations which are going through such financial processes as these. ”

“ The treasurer’s financial statement for the year, 1896, is too full of trivial details to be satisfactory, but the tables which are published in the same number of the Gazette enable one to form a very clear idea of the financial state of the country. ”

“ STUDY. -- The Securities and Exchange Commission, in consultation
with the Board and the Secretary, shall conduct a study on
mark-to-market accounting standards as provided in Statement Number
157 of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, as such standards are
applicable to financial institutions, including depository
institutions. Such a study shall consider at a minimum --
(1) the effects of such accounting standards on a financial
institution’s balance sheet;
(2) the impacts of such accounting on bank failures in 2008 ”

“ How far this process of condensation should be carried depends largely upon the use to which the balance sheet is to be put. A statement of financial condition to be issued to the public—stockholders and outsiders—can well omit data which would be required for internal use. Care must always be taken in condensed statements to avoid consolidation of detail in such a way as to render the statement misleading. ”

“ To aid the assessor in fixing the value of such shares, the corporations shall furnish him a verified statement of all the matters provided in the preceding section, which shall also show, separately, the amount of capital stock, and the surplus and undivided earnings, and the assessor, from such statement and other information he can obtain, including any statement furnished to and information obtained by the auditor of state, which shall be furnished him on request, shall fix the value of such stock, taking into account the capital, surplus, and undivided earnings. ”

“ The chairman told me to prepare a clever matter-of-fact report, in such a way that the shareholders should perceive that everything had been done that could have been done—no stone left unturned—no useless expense incurred, adding that he really took a paternal interest in me, and that possibly my prospects in life might in a measure depend on the way in which I should manage this important, and he might say, delicate business. ”

“ The visitors made their report to the proprietors, April 18, thus:
‘The circumstances attending our present situation seem to call for much consideration and reflection, and it would become our duty to state what reasonable expectation could be entertained of more income or less expenditure. But the managers have done this, and therefore we forward their report. ”

“ In carrying out this plan, the writer finds it wise to study the entire financial history of a corporation, going carefully through both the construction accounts and the operating accounts from the beginning.
The desirability of analyzing the actual costs of construction, betterment, and operation of public service corporations, preparatory to estimating the cost of reproduction, cannot be too strongly urged upon appraisers. Unfortunately, many corporations refuse access to their records, or claim that the records are too incomplete to be of value. ”

“ Your Committee on Finance beg leave to report that they have examined the accounts and have found them duly audited. Attached to the auditor’s report there is a statement that all the funds which represent permanent property of the Society have also been examined, and everything is found in order. There is a balance in the treasury, Sept. 30th, 1881, of $518.80. The management asked [409] last year for an increase of 25 per cent. in the contributions; the churches gave them an increase of 30 per cent. ”

“ In all problems calling for financial statements, the trial balance should first be tested as to the equality of debits and credits. As stated above, the method of the work sheet is usually the best method for summarizing results, although sometimes skeleton ledger accounts will be found helpful in order to visualize the effect of entries and to trace their course through the accounts. Only painstaking work and the solution of many problems will produce facility and confidence in work of this kind. ”

“ If an engineer, or a commission of engineers, is directed to examine a certain property and report the true cost of reproduction, depreciation, or present value, taking into account all facts connected therewith, the final figures should not differ, whether the report is to be used as a basis for reorganization, sale to another corporation, or is to be used by a State legislature as a basis for formulating a rate bill, or as a basis for a value for taxation. ”

“ Since the closing of the books contemplates the drawing up of financial statements and since all record-keeping must have in view from the very beginning a proper classification of accounts giving the desired information to be reflected finally in the statements, it seems best at this point to consider some phases of account classification before proceeding with a detailed explanation of the method used in adjusting and closing the books. ”

“ These EDGAR filings were used by stock brokers, economists, and analysts, and a $300 million/year industry had sprung up retailing these documents. When I was a doctoral student in economics, I learned that sometimes you could write to the corporation and ask them to send you their annual report by U.S. Mail, but often I ended up forking over $30 a document to some information retailer to read these filings electronically. ”

“ GETTING AT FINANCIAL STATUS While, with proper effort and organization, it is possible to ascertain in advance the financial worth of nearly every prospect in the manner already outlined, there are many instances in which this cannot be done through any of the ordinary channels. Some people conceal their occupation by writing under an assumed name on plain paper, so that an enquiry through a commercial agency will reveal nothing, except, perhaps, the statement “party unknown.” ”

“ It is hardly too much to say that the issue as to whether the size of the typical business unit will continue to become larger and larger, or whether it has already overshot the point of maximum efficiency will turn largely upon the capacity of accountancy to supply large and complex undertakings with more accurate instruments of detailed financial measurement. ”

“ It is stated by competent witnesses that a cash book, a journal, and a ledger are indispensable books of account for an efficient system of accounting, and that, in the smaller shops, even simpler entries showing merely the daily records of sales and record of purchases of merchandise would be sufficient. ”

“ CONSIDERATIONS— In defining the term ``financial expert ́ ́ for purposes of subsection (a) , the Commission shall consider whether a person has, through education and experience as a public accountant or auditor or a principal financial officer, comptroller, or principal accounting officer of an issuer, or from a position involving the performance of similar functions— (1) an understanding of generally accepted accounting principles and financial statements ”

“ The Minister of Finance shall prescribe the manner and procedures by which Ministries,
spending units, and public corporations will undertake internal audits, and is responsible for
ensuring that the internal audit process is conducted in accordance with these rules and
procedures. ”

“ The Financial Services Division is staffed by treasury and accounting grade officers who perform financial and accounting investigations into insolvency cases, conduct statutory audits of accounts and manage and invest insolvency monies. ”