A Director's Guide to Corporate Financial Reporting

This book is designed for corporate directors and senior executives who want to gain a better understanding of accounting. Corporate directors and managers are under pressure from recent changes in the law (especially The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002) and demands by shareholders and the public to be more informed, vigilant and involved in the governance of business organizations. One area in particular, accounting and financial reporting, has been a source of great consternation for directors. Breakdowns in internal control, reporting scandals, restatements and outright accounting fraud have made accounting a source of dread and confusion for corporate directors. We discuss what accounting tries to do, how well it achieves its purpose, and why and how accounting and financial reporting go awry. At the end of each chapter we provide a list of steps that the board should take and questions they should be asking the auditor and management. Directors can use this understanding to move discussions beyond financial reports and identify the impact of accounting matters on broader organizational issues.