One of the other subjects to muse about in the ‘Forward-Looking Statements’ in annual reports is the length of these statements. [1] Some are excruciatingly long over 1100 words. The shortest one I found was Abbott’s with 135 words, but even this is not so much difficult to read, but ever so dull. “CAUTIONARY STATEMENT…
Another part of annual reports which nobody ever reads is the ‘Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements’. So I decided to read a few [1] and see what I could find to muse about. The law apparently requires companies to make these cautionary statements, but there is no consensus on which law applies. The wisest don’t…
Everybody has to pay taxes so taxation is business as usual, but some companies consider taxation a risk with statements like this: They “ worry about potentially negative consequences from changes in or interpretations of tax laws and how they might affect the results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.” But Johnson & Johnson…
I was taught that internal control was the processes around the safeguard of company assets. But that was in the 1970’s, and life has become more complicated since then. So complicated that accountants now disagree on what internal control really is. Or to be more precise British accountants have a different definition to American ones….