Sampling and Analytical Procedures
Section 3 is 30-40% of the AUD exam, the heaviest section, and sampling shows up on nearly every exam form. The #1 AICPA trap is mixing up the primary sampling risk for each test: for tests of controls it is assessing control risk TOO LOW (effectiveness), and for substantive tests it is INCORRECT ACCEPTANCE (accepting a misstated balance). Under AU-C 530, both statistical and nonstatistical sampling require a representative sample, and picking one over the other does not affect audit quality, it only changes whether you can put a number on the sampling risk. Candidates also miss that AU-C 520 requires analytical procedures at TWO mandatory stages, planning and overall review near the end of the audit, while using them as substantive procedures during fieldwork is optional.
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What AICPA wants you to know
- 1Distinguish between statistical and nonstatistical sampling
- 2Define and apply sampling risk and nonsampling risk
- 3Understand attribute sampling for tests of controls
- 4Apply variables sampling for substantive tests of details
- 5Perform substantive analytical procedures as audit evidence