Which qualitative characteristics of accounting information are reflected when accounting information meets the needs of the users in decision making?

The following are all qualitative characteristics of financial statements.

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Understandability

The information must be readily understandable to users of the financial statements. This means that information must be clearly presented, with additional information supplied in the supporting footnotes as needed to assist in clarification.

Relevance

The information must be relevant to the needs of the users, which is the case when the information influences their economic decisions. This may involve reporting particularly relevant information, or information whose omission or misstatement could influence the economic decisions of users.

Reliability

The information must be free of material error and bias, and not misleading. Thus, the information should faithfully represent transactions and other events, reflect the underlying substance of events, and prudently represent estimates and uncertainties through proper disclosure.

Comparability

The information must be comparable to the financial information presented for other accounting periods, so that users can identify trends in the performance and financial position of the reporting entity.

Financial reporting

The primary objective of financial reporting is to provide useful information for making business decisions.

Useful accounting information should possess two fundamental qualitative characteristics:

  1. Relevance
    Relevance means that the information can influence the economic decisions made by users.  For example, the information may help users to predict future events, such as future cash flows, and help determine alternative courses of action under consideration.  Information is also relevant if it is able to help decision makers evaluate past decisions.  Thus, information that is relevant is said to have a predictive role and a confirmatory or feedback role.
  2. Reliability
    Reliability means that the user is assured that the information presented represents faithfully, without bias, the transactions and events being reported.  This is a major reason that accountants record assets at their original historical cost.  For accountants to record current market values requires the use of estimates, appraisals or opinions, all of which are more unreliable.

Additionally, there are enhancing qualities.

  • Timeliness
    For accounting information to be relevant, it must be timely, i.e. it must be available to the decision makers before it loses its capacity to appropriately inform decisions.
  • Comparability
    Comparability results when different companies use the same accounting principles.
  • Materiality
    It is important that users are not overwhelmed with so much detail that they cannot clearly understand the message.  The concept of materiality relates to the extent to which information can be omitted, misstated or grouped with other information without misleading the statement users when they are making their economic decisions.
  • Verifiability
    Information is verifiable if independent observers, using the same methods, obtain similar results.
  • Consistency
    A company uses the same accounting principles and methods from year to year.
  • Understandability
    When information is included in general purpose financial reports, there is an obvious need for the users of those reports to be able to comprehend their meaning.

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Last Update: May 30, 2022

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Asked by: Avery Mertz

Score: 4.6/5 (70 votes)

The qualitative feature is comparability.

Which qualitative feature of accounting is reflected in the statement accounting information fulfills the needs of users?

Understandability means it should be interpreted in the same manner as by other decision-makers. Therefore, Understandability is a characteristic of accounting information Which is reflect accounting information clearly.

Which qualitative characteristics of accounting information is reflected of accounting information is based on facts and it is verifiable by documents?

Qualitative characteristics of accounting information that impact how useful the information is:

  • Verifiability.
  • Timeliness.
  • Understandability.
  • Comparability.

What are the qualitative accounting features?

Reliability. One of the most important among qualitative characteristics of accounting information is reliability of data, i.e. all information provided must be traceable and verifiable with proper source documents.

Which qualitative characteristic of accounting information is reflected when the financing information is verifiable and free from bias?

Answer: The qualitative characteristic of accounting that requires the use of a common unit and format of reporting is comparability. 'Accounting information should be verifiable and free from personal Bias'.

45 related questions found

Which qualitative features of accounting is reflected in the case facilities intra firm and inter firm comparison?

The qualitative feature is comparability.

What is qualitative characteristics of financial reporting?

Actually there are four qualitative characteristics of financial statements. ... The four characteristics are understandability, relevance, reliability, and comparability.

What are the 4 qualitative characteristics?

The Enhancing Qualitative Characteristics are divided into 4 attributes.

  • Comparability.
  • Verifiability.
  • Timeliness.
  • Understandability.

What are the four main qualitative characteristics of financial statements?

characteristics are the attributes that make the information provided in financial reports useful to users. As figure 1 shows, the four principal qualitative characteristics are understandability, relevance, reliability and comparability (IASB, 2006).

What are the features of accounting information?

In order to be useful to a user, accounting information should have the following characteristics:

  • Prepared objectively. ...
  • Consistency of recordation and presentation. ...
  • In support of decisions. ...
  • Matches reader knowledge. ...
  • Reliability and completeness of information.

Is accounting makes a record of qualitative aspects of business?

Answer: The Qualitative aspect of business transactions are not recorded because of the money measurement concept. The concept of money measurement states that an accounting transaction should only be recorded if it can be expressed in terms of cash.

Which qualitative characteristics of accounting information is reflected when accounting information is reflected when accounting information is clearly presented?

Understandibility qualitative characteristics of accounting information is reflected when accounting information is clearly presented. As understandibility means that the information provided through the financial statements be presented in a manner that the users are able to understand it in the manner it should be.

What is the most important qualitative characteristics of accounting information according to the Financial Accounting Standards Board?

On the other hand, (Needles, 2001) [5], mentions that according to SFAC (Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts) developed by the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board), the most important qualitative characteristics of accounting information are clarity and usefulness; and for that information to fulfill the ...

What is the qualitative characteristic that states that accounting records and statements are based on the most accurate and useful data available?

The fundamental qualitative characteristics that make accounting information useful are relevance and verifiability.

What are the features of financial accounting?

Financial Accounting and its characteristic features

  • Following are the characteristics features of Financial Accounting:
  • 1) Monetary Transactions: ...
  • 2) Historical Nature: ...
  • 3) Legal Requirement: ...
  • 4) External Use: ...
  • 5) Disclosure of Financial Status: ...
  • 6) Interim Reports: ...
  • 7) Financial Accounting Process:

Is accounting quantitative or qualitative?

quantitative data. Accountants do not, traditionally, deal with qualitative data, such as whether a customer was happy or sad, or whether it looked like it would rain when a customer bought an umbrella.

What is qualitative accounting information?

Qualitative characteristics are the tributes that make the information provided in financial statements useful to users. ... Accounting information that is reported to facilitate economic decisions should possess certain characteristics or normative standards.

What are qualitative characteristics of financial statements quizlet?

Comparability, verifiability, timeliness, and understandability are qualitative characteristics that enhance the usefulness of information that is relevant and faithfully represented.

What is commerce accounting?

Accounting is the process of recording financial transactions pertaining to a business. The accounting process includes summarizing, analyzing, and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies, regulators, and tax collection entities.

Who are external users of accounting information?

External users are people outside the business entity (organization) who use accounting information. Examples of external users are suppliers, banks, customers, investors, potential investors, and tax authorities.

Which of the following is not a subfield of accounting?

book - keeping is the recording of financial transactions and is part of process of accounting ,not a subfield of accounting .

Which of the following is a qualitative characteristic of a general purpose accounting report?

Relevance and reliability should be regarded as the two fundamental qualitative characteristics of useful financial reporting information (cf. ... It should also be considered subordinate to reliability.

What are the two primary qualitative characteristics of accounting information?

Relevance and reliability are the two primary qualities that make accounting information useful for decision making.

Which of the following characteristics of accounting is in the correct sequence?

Identifying -> Recording -> Communicating is the correct sequence of accounting process.

Which of the following is not a characteristic of accounting?

Explanation: non monetary transactions does not involve and exchange of money or Money's worth directly or indirectly . non monetary transactions does not recorded in the books of account .

Which qualitative characteristics of accounting information is reflected when user of information is able to depend on the information?

Understandibility qualitative characteristics of accounting information is reflected when accounting information is clearly presented. As understandibility means that the information provided through the financial statements be presented in a manner that the users are able to understand it in the manner it should be.

Which qualitative feature of accounting is reflected in the following cases unnecessary and irrelevant information is not included in financial statements?

Adherence to a reasonable level of understandability would prevent an organization from deliberately confusing financial information in order to mislead users of its financial statements. Was this answer helpful?

Which qualitative characteristic of accounting information is depicted by verification of documents?

The following are the qualitative characteristics of accounting information: 1. Reliability− It means that the user can rely on the accounting information. All accounting information is verifiable and can be verified from the source document (voucher), viz.

Which qualitative characteristic states that accounting information are verifiable and free from personal bias?

Answer: The qualitative characteristic of accounting that requires the use of a common unit and format of reporting is comparability. 'Accounting information should be verifiable and free from personal Bias'.