The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says it intends to review 350 financial reports for the year or six months to June 30 - the same number it reviewed last year.

Of the 350 entities ‘‘identified for scrutiny’’, 250 are listed companies and the remaining 100 are unlisted companies with a large number of users.

ASIC reviewed 130 financial reports for the period to December 31, 2009, and is still finalising its follow up of matters with some of those companies.

But ASIC Commissioner Michael Dwyer said the review had highlighted certain areas companies and their auditors should focus on, such as going concern, asset impairment and fair value determination.

‘‘In addition to these areas, all entities should focus on how they report their performance, including the appropriate use of any non-statutory profit measures, the quality of the operating and financial review, segment reporting, and the classification of items as other comprehensive income,’’ he said in a statement today.

Non-statutory profit measures should not be presented in a misleading manner or detract from disclosure of statutory profit, ASIC said.

New accounting standards to deal with segment reporting and other comprehensive income, plus the increasing number of business combinations, also made that an area of focus, it said.

ASIC’s statement came as agribusiness Elders notified investors the corporate watchdog is investigating its compliance with its continuous disclosure obligations leading up to a profit downgrade on June 22.

The downgrade saw Elders flag a full year loss of between $8 million and $14 million, compared with the original prospectus target of a $55.7 million profit.

Elders said on Monday ASIC was making inquiries related to the release of the company’s profit downgrade, although it had been advised by ASIC the inquiries are not necessarily an indication that a contravention of the law has occurred. AAP