Although the disclosure of consolidated financial statements is mandated under corporate accounting standards, many companies have been avoiding the preparation of consolidated financial statements by merely noting in the footnotes that consolidated financial statements were not prepared. This study examined the perceptions of corporate accounting officers regarding consolidated financial statements and investigated the differences between consolidated financial statement information and individual financial statement information. In general, accounting officers perceived that consolidated financial statements provide more useful information to external users than to managers, and the opinion that they are particularly useful for credit evaluation and profitability assessment was overwhelming. The comparison of information revealed that consolidated financial statements generally provide more pessimistic information than individual financial statements, thereby underscoring the urgent need for consolidated financial statement information from the perspective of investor protection.