Meaning

I could put all sorts of information into this reply of mine … for example, I could inform you that my home football team beat Oxford United last evening by a 3 – 0 scoreline whereas in the equivalent fixture last year Oxford United beat my team by a 2 – 3 scoreline

But is that information relevant? Almost certainly not

Is that information reliable? Can you put some faith in believing the truth of the 3 – 0 scoreline?

Well, in this case, yes you can

Is the same information comparable? Well, again, yes it is

But is any of this at all relevant to your interpretation of the contents of a set of financial statements?

Clearly not. So, anything that IS contained within a set of financial statements should be relevant, should be reliable and should be comparable if the financial information within those financial statements is to be considered useful

OK?