General purpose financial statements
In one sentenceFinancial statements prepared under the adopted standards to serve users who cannot demand detailed reports tailored to them, such as owners, lenders and suppliers.
Simply put
The bank studying your financing request and the supplier deciding whether to give you credit terms do not ask you for reports of their own; they read your general statements. That is why these are built on uniform standards.
The complete set includes: the statement of financial position, the income statement (and comprehensive income), the statement of changes in equity, the statement of cash flows, and the notes, with comparative figures.
Example
A trading company's audited annual statements submitted to the bank and uploaded to the Qawaem platform are general purpose statements, while the branch profitability report the owner requests is a special management report.
Don't confuse it with
Management accountingManagement reports are prepared as management requests in any format, while general purpose statements follow a uniform format for all users.