Opinion

Accountant's Opinion

An auditor's statement that he/she has reviewed the financial statements of a company and believes that they are accurate, complete, and in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Most of the time, a publicly-traded company's annual report contains an accountant's opinion; a report without one can be a matter of concern to investors. Instead of an accountant's opinion, the auditor may issue a qualified opinion, stating that the auditor is unable to render a full opinion about a company's finances, or a portion thereof, because the company's accounting does not meet the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or because the information was for some reason incomplete. An accountant's opinion is also called an auditor's report, a clean opinion, or simply an opinion.

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opinion

A Certified Public Accountant's written attestation as to the fairness of presentation of financial statements. Anything other than an opinion that the statements have been presented fairly is a matter of serious concern to investors. Also called accountant's opinion, auditor opinion. See also adverse opinion, clean opinion, disclaimer of opinion, qualified opinion, subject to opinion.