A statement on the front page of a financial statement of an accountant or auditor's opinion.

The presence of the professional opinion implies that the statement is limited in some way, such as the inability to gather certain information, the existence of a relevant upcoming event that may or may not occur (such as a pending lawsuit), indeterminable tax liability relating to an unusual transaction, or the failure of the company being audited to maintain the GAAP accounting principles. Rather than being a mark of quality, a qualified opinion is actually a warning about potential problems within the audit.