Exam Flashcards
o Professional judgement
Judgment is the process of reaching a decision or drawing a conclusion from among a number of alternatives, often in the face of significant uncertainties
o Skepticism
at attitude that includes a questioning mind and a critical assessment of audit evidence
o 5 Professional Judgement Key Steps
Clarify issues and objectives Consider Alternatives Gather and evaluate information Reach Conclusion Articulate and document rationale
• Why is it hard to be skeptical on an audit
o Incentives & Pressures
o Trust in management - Inappropriate
o Unconscious Bias
Where do auditors typically do a bad job exercising skepticism
o Evaluating management estimates or assumptions used to develop estimates in fair value calculations
o Over-reliance on management inquiry regarding adequacy of management’s reserves
o Lack of skepticism in the evaluation of 3rd party confirmations
o Influenced by prior year work papers, other team members, other clients
• Professional Skepticism Characteristics:
o Curiosity o Self-confidence o Interpersonal understanding o Questioning Mind o Self-Determination o Deliberation
o First Movers
risk that management makes auditors (second mover) biased in the direction of management’s judgements.
• Type of cognitive biases
Anchoring Confirmation Familiarity/Availibility Framing Bias False Consensus
• De-biasing techniques:
Decision Aids Tutorials Breaking large tasks to smaller task Develop alternate Explanations Consider decision impact on 3rd parties
o How are auditor judgements biased in ICFR audits
That management tends to lead them to bias
Curse of knowledge is not effort related, but hard wired
Knowledge bias – Explain and document hypotheticals and what you would expect to see – helps mitigate knowledge bias.
o What do authors recommend in order to mitigate bias?
Cognitive restructuring of the task
Document findings like likelihood or magnitude with identified ICFR problems
Perform “self review”
3 Key Decisions in sampling
- Calculate SS
- Select Sample items
- Evaluate Sample Results
Types of Analytical Procedures
Regression analysis
Reasonableness test
Trend analysis/ratio analysis
Regression Analysis
calculate the expected value using a statistical technique where one or more variables are used to predict the account balance
Reasonableness Test
calculate an expected value using data that may or may not be independent of the client’s information system
Trend analysis/ratio analysis
Calculate Changes in account balances - or in relationships between balances - to identify unusual variances
Low Inherent Risk; Low Control Risk
• High Detection Risk: Prime example of where you can use analytical procedures. Maybe exclusively
High Inherent Risk; High Control Risk
• Low Detection Risk: do NOT use analytical procedures exclusively
Advantages of Analytical procedures
Prime example of where you can use analytical procedures. Maybe exclusively
Disadvantages of Analytical Procedures
- Ability to establish auditor expectation
- Lack of precision
- Failure to detect unusual relationship
- Failure to follow up on exceptions