Which assertion is primarily concerned with whether all payroll costs are included in the period?

Which assertion is primarily concerned with whether all payroll costs are included in the period?

• A. Occurrence
• B. Completeness
• C. Accuracy
• D. Cut-off

Answer: (B)

Completeness is the assertion that all payroll costs that should have been recorded for the period are included in the financial statements. This directly answers the idea of ensuring nothing is omitted, so the period truly reflects all costs incurred. Cut-off deals with timing at the period boundary—whether costs are recorded in the correct period. For example, overtime incurred on the last day of the period should appear in that period; if it’s only recorded in the next period, that’s a cut-off issue, whereas if an expense is missing entirely, that’s a completeness problem.

Completeness is the assertion that all payroll costs that should have been recorded for the period are included in the financial statements. This directly answers the idea of ensuring nothing is omitted, so the period truly reflects all costs incurred. Cut-off deals with timing at the period boundary—whether costs are recorded in the correct period. For example, overtime incurred on the last day of the period should appear in that period; if it’s only recorded in the next period, that’s a cut-off issue, whereas if an expense is missing entirely, that’s a completeness problem.