The synthesis and accounting reporting documents represent the basic form of publishing accounting informations,
providing data needed to determine the conditions under which a company operates and evolves over time. The
Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements states that the usefulness of informations
provided by annual accounts is determined by four qualitative characteristics: (IFRS, 2010)
Intelligibility - the informations contained in the synthesis documents must be easily understood by users who have
a reasonable knowledge of business and accounting concepts;
Relevance reffers to the capacity of informations to essentially influence decision-making process. Relevant
informations are those that help users evaluate past, present or future events, to confirm or correct their future
assessments.
Reliability informations must not contain significant errors or be biased, providing sufficient certainty for users in
decision-making process.
Comparability - refers to the capability of information to be compared over time or in space and relative to other
benchmarks.
Qualitative characteristics are attributes that determine the usefulness of accounting information. Accounting
information may not meet the highest rates of features but to be useful in decision-making, it must possess, at least
partially, each of the qualities that define it. (F Like other resources, information can have immediate
strategic utility or may be a fundamental responsibility to expand the field of business opportunities. (Bouquin, 2004b)