Materialism and materiality Online publication date: Tue, 02-May-2006
by Michael K. Shaub
International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation (IJAAPE), Vol. 2, No. 4, 2005
Abstract: Accountants and auditors in recent financial scandals have been pictured as materialistic, simply calculating consequences and ignoring duties. This paper potentially explains this apparently materialistic behaviour in what has historically been a truthtelling profession. Materiality, which drives audit priorities, has been institutionalised in accounting and auditing standards. But a materiality focus inherently implies that all amounts that are not 'materially' misstated are equally true. This leads to habitual immaterial misstatements and promotes the view that auditors do not care about truth at all. Auditors' lack of commitment to truth undermines their claim to be professionals in the classic sense.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation (IJAAPE):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com