materiality

1. The state or quality of being material.
2. Physical substance; matter.

Magnitude of an omission or misstatement of accounting data that misleads financial statement readers. Materiality is judged both by relative amount and by the nature of the item. For example, even a small theft by the president of a company is material. Unfortunately, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has no specific criteria as to what is or is not material. If an item is material, it should be disclosed in the body of the financial statements or footnotes. Some CPA firms use a 5% test for materiality. The SEC in Accounting Series Release No. 159 provides that an item is material if it changed by 10% or more relative to the prior year.

noun

1. The fact of being related to the matter at hand: applicability, application, appositeness, bearing, concernment, germaneness, pertinence, pertinency, relevance, relevancy. See relevant/irrelevant.
2. That which occupies space and can be perceived by the senses: matter, substance. See body/spirit.