MD&A is a narrative explanation, through the eyes of management, of how your company performed during the period covered by the financial statements, and of your company’s financial condition and future prospects. MD&A complements and supplements your financial statements, but does not form part of your financial statements.
Your objective when preparing the MD&A should be to improve your company’s overall financial disclosure by giving a balanced discussion of your company’s financial performance and financial condition including, without limitation, such considerations as liquidity and capital resources – openly reporting bad news as well as good news. Your MD&A should
- help current and prospective investors understand what the financial statements show and do not show;
- discuss material information that may not be fully reflected in the financial statements, such as contingent liabilities, defaults under debt, off-balance sheet financing arrangements, or other contractual obligations;
- discuss important trends and risks that have affected the financial statements, and trends and risks that are reasonably likely to affect them in the future; and
- provide information about the quality, and potential variability, of your company’s profit or loss and cash flow, to assist investors in determining if past performance is indicative of future performance.
In preparing the MD&A, you must take into account information available up to the date of the MD&A. If the date of the MD&A is not the date it is filed, you must ensure the disclosure in the MD&A is current so that it will not be misleading when it is filed.
Wherever this Form uses the word “company”, the term includes other types of business organizations such as partnerships, trusts and other unincorporated business entities.
Explain the nature of, and reasons for, changes in your company’s performance. Do not simply disclose the amount of change in a financial statement item from period to period. Avoid using boilerplate language. Your discussion should assist the reader to understand trends, events, transactions and expenditures.
Focus your MD&A on material information. You do not need to disclose information that is not material. Exercise your judgment when determining whether information is material.
Would a reasonable investor’s decision whether or not to buy, sell or hold securities in your company likely be influenced or changed if the information in question was omitted or misstated? If so, the information is likely material.
If your company is a venture issuer, you have the option of meeting the requirement to provide interim MD&A under section 2.2 by instead providing quarterly highlights disclosure. Refer to Companion Policy 51-102CP for guidance on quarterly highlights.
If your company is a venture issuer without significant revenue from operations, in your MD&A including any quarterly highlights, focus your discussion and analysis of financial performance on expenditures and progress towards achieving your business objectives and milestones.
If your company has mineral projects, your disclosure must comply with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, including the requirement that all scientific and technical disclosure be based on a technical report or other information prepared by or under the supervision of a qualified person. If your company has oil and gas activities, your disclosure must comply with National Instrument 51-101 Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities.
The numbering, headings and ordering of items included in this Form are guidelines only. You do not need to include the headings or numbering or follow the order of items in this Form. Disclosure provided in response to any item need not be repeated elsewhere.
You do not need to respond to any item in this Form that is inapplicable.
If a term is used but not defined in this Form, refer to Part 1 of National Instrument 51-102 and to National Instrument 14-101 Definitions. If a term is used in this Form and is defined in both the securities statute of the local jurisdiction and in National Instrument 51-102, refer to section 1.4 of Companion Policy 51-102CP for further guidance.
This Form also uses accounting terms that are defined or used in Canadian GAAP applicable to publicly accountable enterprises. For further guidance, see subsections 1.4(7) and (8) of Companion Policy 51-102CP.
Write the MD&A so that readers are able to understand it. Refer to the plain language principles listed in section 1.5 of Companion Policy 51-102CP for further guidance. If you use technical terms, explain them in a clear and concise manner.
If you have not presented comparative financial information in your financial statements, in your MD&A you must provide prior period information relating to financial performance that is available.
This Form uses the term “financial condition”. Financial condition reflects the overall health of the company and includes your company’s financial position (as shown on the statement of financial position) and other factors that may affect your company’s liquidity, capital resources and solvency.
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