Kritiese ondersoek na die openbaarmaking van die rekeningkundige beleid gebruik in finansiële state van nywerheidsbeherende maatskappye genoteer op die Johannesburgse Effektebeurs

Abstract

Seeing that the financial statements of a business supply important and essential information to those who use these statements, the importance of the disclosure of this vital information cannot be stressed sufficiently. These people have every right to insist on this disclosure of information seeing that they have a financial interest in the company. The accounting policy of a business is those particular accounting principles which best satisfy the company 0s requirements. The existence of different accounting principles which can be applied in the treatment of a particular item emphasize the importance of the disclosure of the accountancy policy to show which accountancy principles are applied consistently to a particular item from year to year. The majority of companies investigated succeeded excellently in giving each reader, and in particular, every user of financial statements, a clear picture of the accounting policy followed in the treatment of vital items. A practice which can be recommended and which has been used by some companies, is to highlight the statement of accounting policies by disclosing it prior to the financial statements, instead of disclosing it as part of the notes to the financial statements. It was found in the course of the investigation that a number of small companies will have to be careful not to disclose only the absolute minimum of information with regard to their accounting policies. Turnover and earnings per share form part of the statement of accounting policy in the case of some companies. Although turnover is not specifically prescribed to be disclosed, this practice can only contribute to a better understanding of vital information. In order to further increase the quality of the accounting policy as disclosed in the financial statements, as well as to contribute to a more systematic presentation of accounting policy, it can be divided into a general policy that is used by all companies and a specific policy which is found only in some companies, depending on their nature.