Madalina Dumitru

Empirical Study on the Implications of Qualitative Factors in Making Decisions Related to the Materiality Level: The Case of Romania

Abstract The paper aims to present the importance of qualitative factors in determining the materiality level in an audit mission. According to the literature a quantitative approach of materiality is insufficient for appropriate decisions, therefore it is required a more serious treatment of this issue. Data collected in the research were processed using the Ordered Logit Model, and the results showed that there is a significant correlation between the materiality level and the sectors in which the audited companies operate, the auditor’s experience in the field and the longevity of the relationship with the client. There is no any correlation between the materiality level and the needs of the users of financial statements or the management objectives.

An analysis of thanatogenesis in Romanian accounting

Our paper borrows from pathophysiology the concept of thanatogenesis and applies it to accounting concepts and practices. We define accounting thanatogenesis as the study of the causes and processes that lead to the disappearance of an accounting concept or practice. We choose a number of concepts and practices and we survey the opinions of academics teaching in a Bucharest university. Similarly to the clinical indices used by physicians to monitor the evolution of a patient, accounting thanatogenesis indices represent rates of rejection of concepts and practices, as measured by surveys of accountants. The ideological influence of IAS/IFRS is assumed to modify the opinions of the respondents that have been exposed to a decade of harmonisation with both European Accounting Directives and IAS/IFRS.