materiality level

It serves to expect the auditor is to establish an acceptable materiality level in design the audit plan.

In the UK auditors are required to set the materiality level by reference to each individual limited company in a group.

In North America the audit fee was further cut by taking advantage of a US ruling that allows a group of companies to be treated as one company for the purposes of audit materiality levels.

"Given that they give the information to somebody else as part of their bargain to raise money for another deal, there is a strong likelihood that it would reach the materiality level," said Stanley Arkin, a corporate and securities lawyer in New York.

The European Court of Auditors is responsible because it must reflect on its audit methods, and in particular on the materiality levels; it is the responsibility of the Court, not of the Commission or Parliament, to lay down the materiality thresholds.