Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

What is the Materiality Principle?

The materiality principle states that an accounting standard can be ignored if the net impact of doing so has such a small impact on the financial statements that a user of the statements would not be misled. Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), you do not have to implement the provisions of an accounting standard if an item is immaterial. This definition does not provide definitive guidance in distinguishing material information from immaterial information, so it is necessary to exercise judgment in deciding if a transaction is material.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has suggested for presentation purposes that an item representing at least 5% of total assets should be separately disclosed in the balance sheet. However, much smaller items may be considered material. For example, if a minor item would have changed a net profit to a net loss, then it could be considered material, no matter how small it might be. Similarly, a transaction would be considered material if its inclusion in the financial statements would change a ratio sufficiently to bring an entity out of compliance with its lender covenants.

The materiality concept varies based on the size of the entity. A massive multi-national company may consider a $1 million transaction to be immaterial in proportion to its total activity, but $1 million could exceed the revenues of a small local firm, and so would be very material for that smaller company.

The materiality principle is especially important when deciding whether a transaction should be recorded as part of the closing process, since eliminating some transactions can significantly reduce the amount of time required to issue financial statements. It is useful to discuss with the company's auditors what constitutes a material item, so that there will be no issues with these items when the financial statements are audited.

Example of the Materiality Principle

As an example of a clearly immaterial item, you may have prepaid $100 of rent on a post office box that covers the next six months; under the matching principle, you should charge the rent to expense over six months. However, the amount of the expense is so small that no reader of the financial statements will be misled if the entire $100 is charged to expense in the current period, rather than spreading it over the usage period. In fact, if the financial statements are rounded to the nearest thousand or million dollars, this transaction would not alter the financial statements at all.

Terms Similar to Materiality Principle

The materiality principle is also known as the materiality concept.

20 Questions  |  By Zsinmakkah | Last updated: Mar 22, 2022 | Total Attempts: 1567

Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?
Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?
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Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

Do you know anything about accounting principles and knowledge? Could you pass this quiz? Financial accounting is the branch of corporate accounting that identifies, records, and examines financial data for people outside of the company. Any data given by financial accounting includes quarterly and annual income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements of general earnings. If it all adds up you will pass this quiz.


  • 1. 

    The personal assets of the owner of a company will not appear on the company's balance sheet because of which principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Economic Entity

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 2. 

    Which principle/guideline requires a company's balance sheet to report its land at the amount the company paid to acquire the land, even if the land could be sold today at a significantly higher amount?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Economic Entity

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 3. 

    Which principle/guideline allows a company to ignore the change in the purchasing power of the dollar over time?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Economic Entity

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 4. 

    Which principle/guideline requires the company's financial statements to have footnotes containing information that is important to users of the financial statements?

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Economic Entity

    • C. 

      Full Disclosure

  • 5. 

    Which principle/guideline justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Full Disclosure

    • C. 

      Materiality

  • 6. 

    Which principle/guideline is associated with the assumption that the company will continue on long enough to carry out its objectives and commitments?

    • A. 

      Economic Entity

    • B. 

      Going Concern

    • C. 

      Time Period

  • 7. 

    A very large corporation's financial statements have the dollar amounts rounded to the nearest $1,000. Which accounting principle/guideline justifies not reporting the amounts to the penny?

    • A. 

      Full Disclosure

    • B. 

      Materiality

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 8. 

    Accountants might recognize losses but not gains in certain situations. For example, the company might write-down the cost of inventory, but will not write-up the cost of inventory. Which principle/guideline is associated with this action?

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Materiality

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 9. 

    Which principle/guideline directs a company to show all the expenses related to its revenues of a specified period even if the expenses were not paid in that period?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Matching

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 10. 

    When the accountant has to choose between two acceptable alternatives, the accountant should select the alternative that will report less profit, less asset amount, or a greater liability amount. This is based upon which principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Cost

    • C. 

      Materiality

  • 11. 

    Public utilities' balance sheets list the plant assets before the current assets. This is acceptable under which accounting principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Cost

    • C. 

      Industry Practices

  • 12. 

    A large company purchases a $250 digital camera and expenses it immediately instead of recording it as an asset and depreciating it over its useful life. This practice may be acceptable because of which principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Matching

    • C. 

      Materiality

  • 13. 

    A corporation pays its annual property tax bill of approximately $12,000 in one payment each December 28. During the year, the corporation's monthly income statements report Property Tax Expense of $1,000. This is an example of which accounting principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Matching

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 14. 

    A company sold merchandise of $8,000 to a customer on December 29, 2010. The company's sales terms require the customer to pay the company by January 28, 2011. The company's income statement reported the sale in December 2010. This is proper under which accounting principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Full Disclosure

    • B. 

      Monetary Unit

    • C. 

      Revenue Recognition

  • 15. 

    Accrual accounting is based on this principle/guideline.

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Full Disclosure

    • C. 

      Matching

  • 16. 

    The creative chief executive of a corporation who is personally responsible for numerous inventions and innovations is not reported as an asset on the corporation's balance sheet. The accounting principle/guideline that prevents the corporation for reporting this person as an asset is

    • A. 

      Conservatism

    • B. 

      Cost

    • C. 

      Going Concern

  • 17. 

    An asset with a cost of $120,000 is depreciated over its useful life of 10 years rather than expensing the entire amount when it is purchased. This complies with which principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Full Disclosure

    • C. 

      Matching

  • 18. 

    Near the end of the year 2010, a company required a customer to pay $200,000 as a deposit for work that is to begin in early 2011. At the end of 2010 the company reported the $200,000 as a liability on its balance sheet. Which accounting principle/guideline prevented the company from reporting the $200,000 on its 2010 income statement?

    • A. 

      Going Concern

    • B. 

      Materiality

    • C. 

      Revenue Recognition

  • 19. 

    A retailer wishes to report its merchandise inventory on its balance sheet at its retail value. This would violate which accounting principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Full Disclosure

    • C. 

      Monetary Unit

  • 20. 

    A company borrowed $100,000 on December 1, 2010, and will make its only payment for interest when the note is paid off on June 1, 2011. The total interest for the six months will be $3,600. On the December 2010 income statement, the accountant reported an Interest Expense of $600. This action was the result of which accounting principle/guideline?

    • A. 

      Cost

    • B. 

      Matching

    • C. 

      Revenue Recognition

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  • Sample Question

    What is the entity concept?

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    A boundary is drawn around each organization. This means personal assets and expenses are not part of the company

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    You have to report accounting info at regular intervals

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    You only use GAAP for things that really make a difference or are significant to the company

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    Assume the business will continue to operate for the foreseeable future

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  • Sample Question

    The purpose of the Conceptual Framework is:

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    To assist the International Accounting Standards Board to develop IFRS Standards.

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    To assist preparers of IFRS financial statements to develop consistent accounting policies when no IFRS Standard applies to a particular transaction or other event, or when a Standard allows a choice of accounting policy.

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    To assist all parties to understand and interpret IFRS Standards.

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    All of the above

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    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

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    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

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    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

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    Costs of selling products or services

    Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

    Amounts owed

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Which principle guidelines justifies a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?
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Which principle justifies that a company violating an accounting principle because the amounts are immaterial?

The full disclosure principle requires businesses to disclose information that is relevant to the decisions of investors and creditors. When an amount is so small/immaterial an accountant may decide to ignore an accounting principle.

Which principle guideline allows a company to violate an accounting principle because the amounts are insignificant?

Materiality. Because of this basic accounting principle or guideline, an accountant might be allowed to violate another accounting principle if an amount is insignificant. Professional judgement is needed to decide whether an amount is insignificant or immaterial.

Which principle guideline is associated with the assumption that the company will continue on long enough to carry out its objectives and commitments?

As an accounting principle, the going concern principle serves as a guideline which allows readers of a business's financial statements to assume that the business will continue to operate long enough to carry out its current obligations, objectives and commitments.

Which principle guideline requires a company's balance sheet to report its land at the amount the company paid to acquire?

Which principle/guideline requires a company's balance sheet to report its land at the amount the company paid to acquire the land, even if the land could be sold today at a significantly higher amount? The cost principle requires the accountant to show assets at cost and expenses at cost rather than at higher amounts.