IAS 1

“Materiality and aggregation

Each material class of similar items must be presented separately in the financial statements. Dissimilar items may be aggregated only if the are individually immaterial

However, information should not be obscured by aggregating or by providing immaterial information, materiality considerations apply to the all parts of the financial statements, and even when a standard requires a specific disclosure, materiality considerations do apply”

Muslim, maybe it’s me, but I can’t see anything in there that could faze you. What part of the above 2 paragraphs do you not understand because I feel that, if I were to try to explain them, I would simply finish up by repeating the words verbatim … and that wouldn’t be at all helpful

Prudence …. where did she go? Why did Prudence leave us?

She’s the subject of ongoing debate (follow this link to see the ACCA’s attitude to Prudence …

https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/financial-reporting/tech-tp-prudence.pdf)

but, in short, yes, Prudence walked away from accounting standards … but there’s a growing call for her to be brought back

Come back to me with a specific query about materiality and aggregation

OK?

If postage costs in a year represent 3% of total expenses and stationery costs account for a further 2% of expenses, these should be shown separately and not aggregated into a single line of “selling and distribution costs” because they are separately material

Clearly, on the statement of profit or loss, they would be aggregated in either administrative expenses or (more likely) in selling and distribution costs ….

…. but then, in the notes to the financial statements, there would be disclosed the separate amounts for these two items

Poor example, but it illustrates the concept