Within financial reporting, a cautionary message serves as a pointer to potential risks or uncertainties that might influence the accuracy or dependability of the disclosed data. It indicates investors, analysts, and stakeholders of factors affecting a company's financial performance or outlook.
For instance, they can indicate whether a company has been consistently loss-making, the level of promoter shareholding encumbrance, non-compliance with SEBI SOP Circulars, failure to pay annual listing fees or the removal of derivatives trading.