Commercial Disclosure of sales

Press, 31 October 1979, Page 25

Commercial Disclosure of sales

Disclosure or company tun.'ver in annual reports to shareholders is an essentia' ingredient of the "true and fair view" concept, the '• its ing president of the New Zealand Society of Accountants (Mr a' L. I leury) said when addressing the society's annual genera; meeting in New Plymouth. Mr Fleury was commenting on recent criticisms nf the society's standard accounting practices, one of v hich came from a company < namman who said that dis- ' osure of sales figures or turnover could lead to misleading comparisons being made between companies.

Mr Fleury said: “I can well understand the initial unwillingness of some companies to provide this information. However, I would suggest that the people in those companies do less than justice to the perception of financial analysts and other users of financial statements when it is suggested that comparisons with 'other companies using turnover figures would be misleading. My response is simply this: let the information be made available to readers of financial statements — they will draw their own conclusions, and the market itself will also reflect the interpretation

i placed on the results rei ported by companies." "’As long ago as 1971, the ■ Macarthur Committee here iin New Zealand recom-i i mended that turnoxer should sbe shown in company - accounts. 1 have not the ; time in this address to tra--1 verse the arguments in - favour of disclosure of turns over. The society’s view > simplv is that companies j which disclose turnover ; are providing information - which is vital for the proper ) evaluation of their activities. - We believe that disclosure .■ of turnover is now an essenI tial ingredient of the, true > and fair view concept,” said 1 Mr Fleury.