Abstract

MARTINEZ GARCIA, Francisco Javier; RAMIREZ CACHO, Sergio Iván; MONTOYA DEL CORTE, Javier  and  FERNANDEZ LAVIADA, Ana. Audit materiality: An approach to the new IFAC standars and those issued in Latin-American community of nations. Contad. Adm [online]. 2010, n.230, pp.77-103. ISSN 0186-1042.

After the financial scandals of recent years, quality and independence of the external financial audit have increased to reinforce the regulatory framework. Under this context, since 2002, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has been reviewing and clarifying its International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) which are the most important reference of principles and requirements auditors must comply with in order to fulfill their role in the assurance of the reliability of accounting information presented by companies. Among them, we study those related to materiality, i.e., ISA 320 and ISA 450, the revision of which has become a priority due to the importance of this concept through the audit process and its presence in the accounting and audit frameworks worldwide. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we analyze the new guidelines and requirements for auditors, management and those charged with governance which will be in force as of December 15, 2009. And secondly, we compare these International Standards with those issued in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico and Portugal since, due to the great acceptance of NIAs worldwide, all of these countries must decide whether to adopt ISAs or to update their local standards to converge with ISAs.

Keywords : audit materiality; International Standards of Auditing; International Federation of Accountans; Latin-American community of nations.

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