Companies are both a primary source of financial information about their financial reporting and a potentially biased provider of that information.
REQUIRED:
1. Explain the difference between primary sources of information and secondary sources of information.
2. What is the role of secondary sources of financial information? Identify at least two secondary sources, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages compared to company SEC filings.
3. If you suspect that a company has poor quality reported earnings, explain how would you investigate the company and its financial reporting to assess the quality of their reported earnings.