Dr Jennifer Mao：The key financial statements and the auditor's report

A company's annual report must contain three key financial statements -- the Balance Sheet (BS), the Income Statement (IS), and the Statement of Changes in Financial Positions (SCFP). An unqualified audit opinion from the auditor will not be possible if any of the three statements is absent. In an unqualified audit report, the auditor certifies that the audited financial statements are prepared in accordance with of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and are able to fairly presentthe company's financial position at the end of the financial year and its performance as well as the changes in financial positions for the financial year. An unqualified audit report is also known as a "clean" report.

The BS is the statement that presents the company's financial position at the year-end. The company's performance and changes in financial positions for the year are respectively presented by the IS and the SCFP.

For a financial year, the company has a BS at the start, another at the end. They are like two pictures of the company, one taken at the start of the year, the other at the end of the year. How the company changed from the first picture to the second picture is captured by the IS and SCFP of the year.

According to the opinion expressed by the auditor, there are essentially three types of audit reports, the unqualified or clean report mentioned above, the qualified report, and the disclaimer. When an auditor cannot certify the fair-presentation quality of the financial statements, he will issue a qualified opinion or a disclaimer depending on the seriousness of the matter. If in his opinion the financial statements are so misleading that they are not able to fairly present the company's year-end financial position, the performance and financial position changes for the year, he should issue a disclaimer.

If he has problem with some (but material) part(s) of the financial statements, a qualified opinion is in order. A qualified opinion does not necessarily imply that the accounting figure in question is false. As long as the auditor is not satisfied with the fair-presentation quality of any material financial, he should qualify his audit opinion with respect to that financial. For example, if the audit work on a subsidiary of the company, due to war, natural disaster, or some other reasons, cannot be carried out to the satisfaction of the auditor, the auditor may have to qualify his opinion on the consolidated financial statements.

(The writer is a resource panellist of SPH's Chinese Newspapers.)

每一个公司的年度报告都包括了三个财务报表，它们是资产负债表、损益表及财务状况变动表，三表任缺其一，审计师就不可能签发无保留审计意见书。在无保留审计意见书里，审计师确证公司的财务报表系依据一般公认会计原则编制，可以公正表达公司在该财务年年底的财务状况、该财务年度的经营成果及财务状况的变动情形。无保留审计意见书也称“洁净意见书”。

表达公司财务年年底财务状况的报表就是资产负债表。公司在财务年度里的经营成果和财务状况变动的情况则分别由损益表及财务状况变动表来表达。必须特别强调的是，所谓的报表除了表内的数字外，也包括表后的附注说明。我们将在接连下来的几期分别介绍这三个报表。

公司在财务年度之初有个资产负债表，在财务年度之末有另一个资产负债表，就好像在年初及年尾各拍了一张照片。至于公司究竟如何从年初的样子变成年末的样子，就概括在该年度的损益表及财务状况变动表里了。

审计意见的种类除了前述的“无保留意见”外，还有“保留意见”及“反面意见”。当审计师无法确证公司的财务报表具有公正表达性时，他将视其严重程度，签发保留意见或反面意见。如果他认为受审的财务报表具有重大的误导性，根本无法公正表达公司的财务状况、经营成果及财务状况变动，他应该签发反面意见书。

保留意见适用于审计师无法确证报表中少数，但重要项目的公正表达性。保留意见并不一定意味着公司的这些会计数字有假，只要审计师无法满意这些数字的公正表达，他就应该对这些项目保留意见。例如，公司在某国之子公司，由于战争或天灾，查帐工作无法正常进行，以致于审计师无从判断该子公司报表的可信度。包括了此子公司报表的合并报表的公正表达性自然也受到影响，审计师会就此困难，对此部分的财务数字保留其意见。（作者是华文报咨询团成员）