SA 320 : MATERIALITY IN PLANNING

AND PERFORMING AN AUDIT

` “Sir, I found a mistake of ` 250. What to do

`

Introduction

u amount or information
materiality
point view of the Auditor
u -

What is the importance of Materiality?

material misstatement
all material respects

Let us learn in detail.

Materiality in the Context of an Audit

a
b E.g. Abnormal, non-recurring, extraordinary etc. ;
c E.g. As per Section 52 of Companies Act, 2013, Securities Premium
cannot be used for declaring dividend - In this case, amount is not considered ;
d E.g. Fraud committed by managing director of small amount - it’s
a matter of reliability not amount ;

14.102
 14.103

e i.e.
E.g. An error of ` 1000 in one transaction may be immaterial but if the same is repeated
number of times it may be material .

Asked in exam

Concept capsule 54
An assistant of X & Co., Chartered Accountants detected an error of ` 5 per interest payment which recurred
number of times. The General Manager (Finance) of T Ltd advised him not to request for passing any adjustment
entry as individually the errors were of small amounts. The company had 2,000 Deposit Accounts & interest
was paid quarterly. Comment as per SAs.
Suggested answer
As per SA 320, Materiality should be considered individually and in aggregate.
In the given case, we can find out that individually errors are of ` 5 only but when we consider total effect of
the same then it involves a big amount and which should be treated as material transaction.
The auditor should, therefore, determine the cumulative error and then take a decision as to whether an
adjustment is required or not. Accordingly, they need not pay any attention to the advice made by the General
Manager (Finance) of T Ltd.

Determination of Materiality
Materiality Performance Materiality

` total misstatement of ` 10 Crore

read it
once again - it is FS - including BS, P&L & Notes ;
Total error
How does auditor decide materiality
A PERCENTAGE
BENCHMARK
i.e.
like 1%
like 5% .
`
` `
` i.e.
14.104

a For example

b users focus Generally users may focus on

the profit, revenue sales , total assets etc ;
c Nature of the Entity industry and economic
environment
d ownership structure For example,

profit-oriented entities volatile

can fix

determine performance materiality

Asked in Exam

(CA Inter - Nov 2020)

What is Performance materiality?

Performance materiality at less than materiality
reduce to an appropriately low level the probability that
the aggregate of uncorrected and undetected misstatements exceeds materiality

I think, you did not understand completely - still I suggest you to read the above definition once
again. Answer the following questions
`

Say
Auditor identified total errors of ` 1 Crore.
Does he give unmodified or modified opinion?
` identified
Is auditor checking 100% items in the financial statements?

`
total errors in the financial statements would be ` 120
lakh ` `

` unidentified
performance materiality = Materiality - Expected unidentified errors ` `
`
 14.105

identified error

more audit procedures

How to determine unidentified error?

u previous audits.
Hope you understood it better.

What is the relation between Materiality and Audit risk?

INVERSE relationship
u

audit procedures
u audit procedures
u i.e.
Inverse relation vice versa.
How is that?
very material
reduces the audit risk
not material may have been ignored
and

a
i.e. compliance procedures as discussed in SA 500
b -
i.e. by performing more extent of audit procedures

Revision of Materiality during the Audit

shall revise or

becoming aware of information during the audit that would have caused the auditor to
have determined a different amount initially read again
In my example, I took the benchmark of PBT as ` 100 crore. If, during the audit if he is aware of
misstatement and due to which PBT is reduced to ` 90 Crore. Then auditor must revise the materiality
from ` 1 Crore to ` 90 lakh i.e. ` 90 Crore * 1% .
14.106

a revise performance materiality

b
This is because when ` 1 crore what was not checked earlier, may be required to be verified
when materiality is reduced to ` 90 lakh
Asked in MTP

(MTP-Nov- 2019)

Concept capsule 55
As an auditor of RST Ltd. Mr. P applied the concept of materiality for the financial statements as a whole. On
the basis of obtaining additional information of significant contractual arrangements that draw attention to a
particular aspect of a company’s business, he wants to re-evaluate the materiality concept. Please, guide him.
Suggested answer
In the instant case, Mr. P, as an auditor of RST Ltd. has applied the concept of materiality for the financial
statements as a whole. But he wants to re-evaluate the materiality concept on the basis of additional information
of significant contractual arrangements which draws attention to a particular aspect of the company’s business.
As per SA 320, auditor should fix the materiality as a whole or if required, he can fix separate materiality for
P&L, BS and notes. For this, he should fix a bench mark based on industry, previous experience, volatility of
benchmark etc.
The auditor shall revise materiality for the financial statements in the event of becoming aware of information
during the audit that would have caused the auditor to have determined a different amount (or amounts)
initially i.e. if the benchmark amount is changed.
If the auditor concludes a lower materiality for the same, then he should consider the fact that whether it is
necessary to revise performance materiality and whether the nature, timing and extent of the further audit
procedures remain appropriate.
Thus, Mr. P can re-evaluate the materiality concepts after considering the necessity of such revision.

Documentation

a Materiality
b If applicable -

c Performance
d a c
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