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accountant's opinion

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Accountant's Opinion
A statement signed by an independent accountant outlining his or her opinion regarding the quality of information contained in a company's financial reports and records.

Notes:
An accountant's opinion statement can either be qualified or unqualified. When the opinion is qualified, the accountant is questioning the accounting principles and/or scope of the information provided. An unqualified opinion is given when the accountant sees that the given information in the financial statements is sound. In other words, an unqualified opinion is desirable whereas a qualified opinion is not.

The subject of accountant independence became an important issue in the wake of the demise of such corporate giants as Enron and WorldCom in the early 2000's. Because Enron and WorldCom were large companies, they represented a substantial portion of their accounting firms' revenues. This lead to the speculation that the accountants could not provide truly independent opinions for these giant companies, who provided the accountants with extremely lucrative contracts but also might have terminated these contracts if undesirable accounting opinions were issued.


Accountant's opinion
A signed statement from an independent public accountant after examination of a firm's records and accounts. The opinion may be unqualified or qualified. See: Qualified opinion.

accountant's opinion
See opinion.


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The willingness of investors, creditors, and other stakeholders to trust the public accountant's opinion is an important facet of market efficiency.
In other words, even if the accountant does not know of the third-party or the third-party is not within the "intended users of financial statements," the accountant is liable if the third-party is within a class of persons "who might reasonably be foreseen to rely upon the financial statements and the accountant's opinion.
Both large pension and welfare benefit plans also must attach Schedule of Assets Held for Investment Purposes, Schedule of Assets Both Acquired and Disposed of Within the Plan Year and/or Schedule of Reportable Transactions as well as the report of the required accountant's opinion, if applicable.
 
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