ABSTRACT
The information adequacy is examined through the writings on consolidated financial statements of Kitchen and Parker; information reliability is analysed in the writings on the audit function of Lee and Cochrane. Parker extends the discussion on consolidated financial statements into the area of considering developments in five countries and questions the reasons for differences in approach and method. Arguably, one of the most significant areas of development in financial reporting was the introduction of consolidated financial statements relating to the activity of a group of companies as distinct from that of a holding company. In America, there appears to have been little problem in making such an introduction, its relevance being evidenced in the universal adoption of such a reporting practice by the 1920s. The funds statement has tended to fill a gap in the coverage of financial reports in recent years.
