Objective of Financial Statements - a Critical Review

The management of all listed companies registered in UK are bound by law to prepare and provide financial statements for each accounting period. This has been the case since the conception of ‘The Companies Act 1948’ (Flint, 1982), last amended in 1985. Although it’s been over 55 years of reporting entities preparing financial statements, the objective of these statements has always been a matter of discussion. The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) came up with a precise outline in 1999 which stated “The objective of financial statements is to provide information about the reporting entity’s financial performance and financial position that is useful to a wide range of users for assessing the stewardship of the entity’s management and for making economic decisions” (Accounting Standards Board, 1999). Astrazeneca International is one of the companies which prepare financial statements in compliance with ‘The Companies Act 1985’.This essay is an attempt to critically evaluate the financial information provided by Astrazenca to find out if it meets the objectives set by the above statement. In order to achieve that, it’s imperative to first understand the meaning of the highlighted components of the statement and have an overview of the company under discussion.

Astrazeneca: An overview

Astrazeneca is a leading pharmaceutical company formed in 1999 through