Disclosures Reflect a Company\'s Accounting

Disclosures reflect a company's accounting practices and the amount of information it wishes to disclose. In most cases, a detail of control and procedures for disclosure are mentioned, but some are still more comprehensive than others. For example in Citigroup Inc.'s disclosure, more pain was taken to clearly state the disclosure as compared to JP Morgan's disclosure.

Citigroup's disclosure vs. JP Morgan's disclosure

This disclosure was longer than JP Morgan's and thus was more clearly understood. Secondly, by reading this disclosure and comparing it to the JP Morgan, you get a feeling that Morgan staff was in a hurry to get over with the disclosure while Citigroup took it more seriously. Both companies had the first few lines similar. They both claimed to have used the controls and disclosure procedures in according with SEC rules and that information had been approved by company seniors. Citigroup writes, "The Company's disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed under the Exchange Act securities laws is accumulated and communicated to management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer…" and in the same vein, JP Morgan Chase says, "As of the end of the period covered by this report, an evaluation was carried out under the supervision and with the participation of the Firm's management, including its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and its Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of its disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934)."

So far both are almost similar in content. However there is a huge difference after these lines. Morgan quickly wraps it up saying that controls were deemed effective while Citigroup goes on to add who is responsible in the company for ensuring the effectiveness of the procedures. This additional bit of information gives a reader the feeling that the company cares about its disclosure statement and wants to be seen as a responsible firm. Morgan seemed uninterested in this additional information. Even the ending for both are though similar yet for Citigroup it's more thorough and for Morgan, it ends in two lines.

See how the two companies end their disclosures: Citigroup Inc. says, "The Company's management, with the participation of the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15 (e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2005 and, based on that evaluation, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief