Discussion of on the Frequency, Quality, and Informational Role of Mandatory Financial Reports

* What information about firms' financial conditions should be released to investors and other stakeholders in their financial reports? * Where should the information be released: should it be recognized explicitly in the body of the firms' financial statements, disclosed in notes, or revealed in some other fashion? * When should the information be disclosed: immediately upon receipt of information, after enough information is accumulated to suggest the probability of an economic event involving the firm exceeds some threshold, immediately after an economic transaction takes place, or at some time following the transaction associated with the information? * How should the information be recorded: at historical cost, at market value, based on estimates, discounted? * Why should the information be included in financial reports, that is, why should the information be mandated to appear in financial statements, as opposed to being left up to the discretion of individual firms?