INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS (IFRS) AND AN ISSUE OF COMPARABILITY OF ASSESSMENTS OF FINANCIAL STANDING OF THE COMPANIES LISTED ON THE WARSAW STOCK EXCHANGE MADE BY THE AUDITORS IN THE REPORTS ON THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The aim of the paper is to investigate the practice of financial auditors with regard to application of financial ratios when performing statutory audit. Empirical examination shows that there is no widely accepted list of financial ratios recommended for usage by auditors. Furthermore there is no widely accepted formulas for calculating financial ratios. In many cases auditors don't report ratios' formulas in auditor report and if presented, financial ratios were calculated using different formulas. The results of the study shows lack of comparability between auditors' reports what potentially may cause interpretation problems with regard to evaluation of financial condition of the audited entity. Moreover the study shows that the most commonly used financial ratio is current ratio.