Question

The cost constraint suggests that, even when the cost of providing accounting information exceeds its benefit, the financial accounting information should always be provided. True or false?

Answer 1

Answer:

False

Explanation:

The GAAP established that when the benefits of obtaining accounting information are lower than the costs of providing that information, the information should not be provided.

For example, sometimes there are very small differences in certain accounts that don't allow a balance sheet to be balanced. If the accounting error is very small, e.g. just a few hundred dollars, then it is not reasonable to have a whole audit team check all the financial statements again to determine what caused the error. An adjusting entry could be made to close the account balances.

Imagine you are an auditor that must check the physical inventory of a factory and some boxes containing supplies are misplaced. It might take you a whole day to count again all the supplies and materials, but is it worth it? If the supplies were really expensive, probably yes, but if they were cheap components, then probably no.