adverse opinion
- noun
- /ˈæd.vɜrs əˈpɪn.jən/
- Formal
:
opinión adversa
- On this basis, the high- and medium-quality vendors would receive a "clean opinion" and the low-quality vendor would receive an "adverse opinion."
Examples
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If the financial statements are misleading, the auditor may issue an adverse opinion on the company's reports.
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The company faced significant penalties after receiving an adverse opinion regarding its accounting practices.
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Following the audit, the firm received an adverse opinion due to non-compliance with accounting standards.
How Reliable
Surface Forms
Morphology
A B1 learner who knows 'adverse' (unfavorable) and 'opinion' (a view or statement) can infer a general negative assessment, so the basic sense is partially transparent. However, the MWE is a specialized auditing term referring specifically to a formal auditor's statement about financial statements not fairly presenting position, which is technical and not fully predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Adverse opinion comes from auditors giving an official 'against' decision—like a teacher putting a big red X on a student's report. Here adverse means against and opinion is the auditor's statement, so it means the auditor says the company's financial reports are 'not fair or correct'.