EDITORIAL Applying Disruptive Technologies to Audited Financial Statements

By Janek Ratnatunga

In today’s economy, both large shareholder investment groups and ordinary (retail) shareholders depend of the information provided in the audited financial statements for managing their portfolios. The problem is that Audited Financial Reports, that have not changed in their presentation format, or in their method of delivery, since the dawn of the industrial era or the age of the corporation (about 1850) when tangible assets such as land and machinery were the engines of growth. As a result, the Balance Sheet still shows that it is mainly these tangible ‘non-current’ assets’ that drive business value.

This paper discusses an innovative approach to the presentation of financial statements that would be truly disruptive to the traditional account preparation and the audit functions, using the power of the technologies we have at our disposal today to show the true value of today’s companies.

JAMAR 14.2-Applying Disruptive Technologies -Editorial