Bre-X Minerals (Bre-X), a small publicly listed Canadian mining company, announced in the early 1990s that it had discovered a fairly significant gold deposit in Indonesia. Bre-Xs stocks were listed on the Toronto, Montreal and NASDAQ exchanges. The companys shares skyrocketed from pennies a share to over $280 per share. Subsequently, it was discovered that the company had been salting the samples and that there was little, if any, gold there. This information was not disclosed to the market until long after it was discovered by an independent third party that there was practically no gold in the Indonesian mine. Certain parties who had access to this information benefited; however, many investors lost a significant amount of money. For example, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan lost millions of dollars. Investors sued the company and its management for providing misleading information.

Instructions

Using the conceptual framework underlying the financial reporting, identify and analyze the financial report issues of Bre-X. Present your answer as:

• Overview (4 marks)
• Analysis and recommendations (9 marks), and
• Conclusion (3 marks)