L’origine storica del principio della rilevanza per la redazione del bilancio di esercizio

The present contribution aims to provide a historical reconstruction of the origins of the
materiality, from the second half of the 19th century up to the transposition in Italy. The methodology used is based on the analysis
of the oldest sources of the principle, represented by: a) the judgments of the British and US Courts during the 19th and 20th
centuries; b) the literature developed by professional practices and accounting studies in the same period; c) the legal framework
within which the principle of materiality has been regulated. The main research results are related, first of all, to the finding of the
ancient origin of the principle: the concept of materiality has indeed developed over a secular process -still in progress today-, started
in Anglo-Saxon countries, at least in the 18th century. Moreover, the historical reconstruction shows that the principle is originally
derived from the practice and, in particular, from the professional categories, represented, above all, by auditors, accountants and
lawyers. In the first applications, the function of materiality was to help auditors to focus their checks on material errors. Later, the
principle became also an accounting concept, focused on the materiality of information for the users of the financial statements. The
originality of this research consists in the reconstruction of the historical origins of the principle, starting from its first appearances,
both in the legal and in the accounting fields. In addition, the paper analyzes the implementation of the materiality within the
Italian context, with particular regard to its legislative developments and to the interpretations provided by national accounting
standards. In this regard and with reference to the national area, it is important to note, first of all, that the accounting tradition,
as well as the legal system are very different from the ones within which the principle was born, being Italy a typically civil law
country where, generally, the law and the theory guide the practice and not vice versa. In particular, the Italian law measures the
materiality on the basis of the truthful and correct representation parameter. The national accounting principles define the
materiality in a partially different way by integrating the role of the truthful and correct representation with that of the decisions of
the recipients of the financial statements.