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2016年ACCA考试《审计与认证业务》知识点(1)

考试网  [ 2016年5月21日 ] 【

  Audit sampling

  Paper F8, Audit and Assurance and Paper FAU, Foundations in Audit require

  students to gain an understanding of audit sampling. While you won’t be

  expected to pick a sample, you must have an understanding of how the various

  sampling methods work. This article will consider the various sampling

  methods in the context of Paper F8 and Paper FAU.

  This subject is dealt with in ISA 530, Audit Sampling. The definition of audit

  sampling is:

  ‘The application of audit procedures to less than 100% of items within a

  population of audit relevance such that all sampling units have a chance of

  selection in order to provide the auditor with a reasonable basis on which to

  draw conclusions about the entire population.’1

  In other words, the standard recognises that auditors will not ordinarily test all

  the information available to them because this would be impractical as well as

  uneconomical. Instead, the auditor will use sampling as an audit technique in

  order to form their conclusions. It is important at the outset to understand that

  some procedures that the auditor may adopt do not involve audit sampling,

  100% testing of items within a population, for example. Auditors may deem

  100% testing appropriate where there are a small number of high value items

  that make up a population, or when there is a significant risk of material

  misstatement and other audit procedures will not provide sufficient

  appropriate audit evidence. However, candidates must appreciate that 100%

  examination is highly unlikely in the case of tests of controls; such sampling is

  more common for tests of detail (ie substantive testing).

  The use of sampling is widely adopted in auditing because it offers the

  opportunity for the auditor to obtain the minimum amount of audit evidence,

  which is both sufficient and appropriate, in order to form valid conclusions on

  the population. Audit sampling is also widely known to reduce the risk of

  ‘over-auditing’ in certain areas, and enables a much more efficient review of

  the working papers at the review stage of the audit.

  In devising their samples, auditors must ensure that the sample selected is

  representative of the population. If the sample is not representative of the

  population, the auditor will be unable to form a conclusion on the entire

  population. For example, if the auditor tests only 20% of trade receivables for

  existence at the reporting date by confirming after-date cash, this is hardly

  representative of the population, whereas, say, 75% would be much more

  representative.

  2

  AUDIT SAMPLING

  AUGUST 2011

  SAMPLING RISK

  Sampling risk is the risk that the auditor’s conclusions based on a sample may

  be different from the conclusion if the entire population were the subject of the

  same audit procedure.

  ISA 530 recognises that sampling risk can lead to two types of erroneous

  conclusion:

  1. The auditor concludes that controls are operating effectively, when in

  fact they are not. Insofar as substantive testing is concerned (which is

  primarily used to test for material misstatement), the auditor may

  conclude that a material misstatement does not exist, when in fact it

  does. These erroneous conclusions will more than likely lead to an

  incorrect opinion being formed by the auditor.

  2. The auditor concludes that controls are not operating effectively, when in

  fact they are. In terms of substantive testing, the auditor may conclude

  that a material misstatement exists when, in fact, it does not. In contrast

  to leading to an incorrect opinion, these errors of conclusion will lead to

  additional work, which would otherwise be unnecessary leading to audit

  inefficiency.

  Non-sampling risk is the risk that the auditor forms the wrong conclusion,

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