Often the terms “significant” and “material” are used interchangeably. This can course a lot of confusion. The SEC once took a company to task asking why they used this explanation of a contingency:
“You disclose...that you do not expect the ultimate conclusion of any of the proceedings to which you are a party to have a “significant adverse effect” on your financial statements and you have not disclosed the contingent liabilities associated with these claims either because they cannot be “reasonably” estimated or because such disclosure could be prejudicial to the conduct of the claims. Please revise your future filings...to more clearly confirm that you believe the ultimate conclusion of any of the proceedings to which you are a party will not have a “material” adverse effect to your results of operations, cash flows, or financial position.
Why the distinction between "material" and "significant"? To help with understanding the difference between "significnant" and "material" , the following comes from a paper on the IASB 2008 Annual Improvements Process, Comment Letter Analysis:
Significant vs Material
As mentioned above...some respondents asked for further clarification of the Board’s intentions in changing material to significant.
According to paragraph 30 of the Framework:
“Information is material if its omission or misstatement could influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of the financial statements. Materiality depends on the size of the item or error judged in the particular circumstances of its omission or misstatement. Thus, materiality provides a threshold or cut-off point rather than being a primary qualitative characteristic which information must have if it is to be useful.”
“Significant, on the other hand, is not a defined term in IFRSs but is used throughout IFRSs to denote the degree of importance or relevance, eg significant costs (IAS 16) significant increase in turnover rates (IAS 19), significant period of time (IFRS 2).”
“Some respondents questioned whether it is possible to have a material change in the number of employees that is not significant. The staff notes that it is not meaningful to say there is a ‘material’ change in the number of employees in IAS 19 since the standard does not require that number to be disclosed in the financial statements.”
Clear as mud?
