Special purpose financial statements are characterized by limited circulation and by providing more detailed information for some items or operations. From the foregoing, it is concluded that the special purpose financial statements are prepared to meet the specific needs of certain users of accounting information. These financial statements include the following:
Initial balance
Every economic entity must prepare a balance sheet at the beginning of its activities to make the patrimonial situation clear and complete at that time.
Interim period financial statements
They are the same basic financial statements that are prepared during the course of the period to satisfy requests from authorities that exercise inspection and control, or needs of the administrators of the economic entity.
Cost statements
They are states that allow to know in detail expenditures and charges made in the production of goods and services, from which the economic entity derives its income.
Inventory status
Status that allows verifying in detail the existence of each item in the balance sheet.
Extraordinary financial statements
They are the states that are prepared during the period, as a result of special decisions related to transformation, merger, public offering of securities, request for agreement with creditors, or sale of the establishment.
Settlement states
States that appear on the occasion of the cessation of operations to report on the progress in the realization of assets and in the cancellation of liabilities.
Comparative financial statements
They are the states that present figures corresponding to two different dates. The general purpose financial statements should be presented comparatively with those of the immediately preceding period. The periods must have the same duration, or otherwise, consult the same period of the operations cycle.
Certified and audited financial statements
A financial statement is understood as certified, when it is accompanied by the signature of the legal representative, the public accountant and the fiscal auditor, if any, who testify that they have been faithfully taken from the books. For a financial statement to be audited, it must be accompanied by the opinion of the public accountant who examined it, observing the accepted general auditing standards.
Source: Gonzalo Sinisterra V. and Luis E. Polanco I. Administrative Accounting. ECOE EDICIONES, 2007, pp. 15 and 16.
