Anomaly
Anomaly – a misstatement or deviation that is demonstrably not representative of misstatements or deviations in a population [International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), p.5].
The lingual meaning (general meanings in English) of the word anomaly or anomalous is something irregular, i.e., something that is not expected to happen frequently does not follow a specific expected pattern, or simply is not what was expected!
In auditing, the terms anomaly and anomalous have almost the same meaning and usage what is described above. But indeed, the term has some technical aspects attached to it, and certain conditions must be satisfied for a misstatement to be categorized as an anomaly.
International Auditing Standard (IAS) 530: Audit Sampling defines anomaly as a misstatement or deviation demonstrably not representative of misstatements or deviations in a population.
Misstatements can be found in the financial information of an entity. Mostly, misstatements recur over some time and occur due to such events, which are interconnected and have their effect spread over to different items of financial statements. But sometimes misstatements may occur due to such events, which are non-recurring and happen only once. The effect of such misstatements is confined and therefore does not represent other misstatements in the financial information. Such misstatements, which occur due to isolated events and are expected to be non-recurring, are called anomalous misstatements [Pakaccountants].
International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). (2009). Audit Sampling. New York: International Federation of Accountants.
What is meant by Anomalous misstatement?. Pakaccountants. Retrieved from: https://pakaccountants.com/what-is-anomalous-misstatement-in-auditing/