FINANCIAL STATEMENTS REPORTING AS A TOOL FOR MANIPULATING THE PERCEPTION OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION

Abstract

Financial statements must present the property, financial position, and performance of entities truly and honestly. Managers, however, may influence users’ perception of information by altering the manner in which this information is presented in financial statements. The objective of this paper is to employ a slightly different approach based on the specific features of the parties involved in the information-exchange process, i.e. users (with their expectations and constraints) and managers (with their goals and motives) and review different methods and techniques applied by managers to manipulate users’ perception of the information presented in financial statements.