Multiple-Choice Questions-Audit Evidence

Ans

Auditors must make decisions regarding what evidence to gather and how much to accumulate. Which of the following is a decision that must be made by auditors related to evidence?

Sample size

Timing of audit procedures

Yes

Audit procedures may be performed:

Ans

Prior to the fiscal year-end of the client

Subsequent to the fiscal year-end of the client

Yes

Which of the following forms of evidence is most reliable?

Ans

a. General ledger account balances.

b. Confirmation of accounts receivable balance received from a customer.

c. Internal memo explaining the issuance of a credit memo.

d. Copy of month-end adjusting entries.

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the reliability of evidence?

Ans

a. Effectiveness of client internal controls.

b. Education of auditor.

c. Independence of information provider.

d. Timeliness.

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the reliability of evidence?

Ans

a. Qualification of individual providing information.

b. Auditor’s direct knowledge.

c. Degree of subjectivity.

d. Degree of objectivity.

Ans

Calculating the gross margin as a percent of sales and comparing it with previous periods is what type of evidence?

a. Physical examination.

b. Analytical procedures.

c. Observation.

d. Inquiry

Audit evidence obtained directly by the auditor will not be reliable if:

Ans

a. the auditor lacks the qualifications to evaluate the evidence.

b. it is provided by the client’s attorney.

c. the client denies its veracity.

d. it is impossible for the auditor to obtain additional corroboratory evidence.

Appropriateness of evidence is a measure of the:

Ans

a. quantity of evidence.

b. quality of evidence.

c. sufficiency of evidence.

d. meaning of evidence.

Which of the following statements regarding the relevance of evidence is correct?

Ans

a. To be relevant, evidence must pertain to the audit objective of the evidence.

b. To be relevant, evidence must be persuasive.

c. To be relevant, evidence must relate to multiple audit objectives.

d. To be relevant, evidence must be derived from a system including effective internal controls.

10.

Two determinants of the persuasiveness of evidence are:

Ans

a. competence and sufficiency.

b. relevance and reliability.

c. appropriateness and sufficiency.

d. independence and effectiveness.

11.

Ans

Three common types of confirmations used by auditors are (1) negative confirmations, (2) blank form positive confirmations, and (3) positive confirmations with information included. Place the confirmations in order of reliability from highest to lowest.

a. 1, 2, 3.

b. 3, 2, 1.

c. 2, 3, 1.

d. 3, 1, 2.

12.

When auditors use documents to support recorded transactions, the process is often called:

Ans

a. inquiry.

b. confirmation.

c. vouching.

d. physical examination.

13.

An example of an external document is:

Ans

a. employees’ time reports.

b. bank statements.

c. purchase order for company purchases.

d. carbon copies of cheques.

14.

Ans

An example of a document the auditor receives from the client, but which was prepared by someone outside the client’s organization, is a(n):

a. confirmation.

b. sales invoice.

c. vendor invoice.

d. bank reconciliation.

15.

Ans

“Evaluations of financial information made by a study of plausible relationships among financial and nonfinancial data involving comparisons of recorded amounts to expectations developed by the auditor” is a definition of:

a. analytical procedures.

b. tests of transactions.

c. tests of balances.

d. auditing.

16.

Often, auditor procedures result in significant differences being discovered by the auditor. The auditor should investigate further if:

Ans

Significant differences are not expected but do exist

Significant differences are expected but do not exist

Yes

17.

Which of the following is not a purpose of analytical procedures?

Ans

a. Understand the client’s industry.

b. Assess the client’s ability to continue as a going concern.

c. Evaluate internal controls.

d. Reduce detailed audit tests.

18.

medium

Which of the following forms of evidence would be least persuasive in forming the auditor’s opinion?

a. Responses to auditor’s questions by the president and controller regarding the investments account.

b. Correspondence with a stockbroker regarding the quantity of client’s investments held in street name by the broker.

c. Minutes of the board of directors authorizing the purchase of stock as an investment.

d. The auditor’s count of marketable securities.

19.

Which of the following statements is not true? “The evidence-gathering technique of inquiry:

medium

a. cannot be regarded as conclusive.”

b. requires the gathering of corroborative evidence.”

c. is the auditor’s principal method of evaluating the client’s internal control.”

d. does not provide evidence from an independent source.”

20. (SOX)

medium

Sarbanes-Oxley requires auditors of public companies to maintain audit documentation for what period of time?

a. Not less than 3 years.

b. Not less than 5 years.

c. Not less than 7 years.

d. Through the issuance of the financial statements.

21.

Analytical procedures must be used during which phase(s) of the audit?

medium

Test of Controls

Planning

Completion

Yes

22.

Which of the following statements is not correct?

medium

a. It is possible to vary the sample size from one unit to 100% of the items in the population.

b. The decision of how many items to test should not be influenced by the increased costs of performing the additional tests.

c. The decision of how many items to test must be made by the auditor for each audit procedure.

d. The sample size for any given procedure is likely to vary from audit to audit.

23.

Auditors will replace tests of details with analytical procedures when possible because the:

medium

a. analytical procedures are more reliable.

b. tests of details are more expensive.

c. analytical procedures are more persuasive.

d. tests of details are more difficult to interpret.

24.

Which of the following statements is not correct?

medium

a. Persuasiveness of evidence is partially determined by the reliability of evidence.

b. The quantity of evidence obtained determines its sufficiency.

c. The auditor need not consider the independence of an information source when obtaining evidence.

d. Evidence obtained directly by the auditor is ordinarily more reliable than evidence obtained from other sources.

25.

Which one of the following is not one of the primary purposes of audit documentation?

medium

a. A basis for planning the audit.

b. A record of the evidence accumulated and the results of the tests.

c. A basis for review by supervisors and partners.

d. A basis for determining work deficiencies by peer review teams.

26.

Which of the following is the most objective type of evidence?

medium

a. A letter written by the client’s attorney discussing the likely outcome of outstanding lawsuits.

b. The physical count of securities and cash.

c. Inquiries of the credit manager about the collectability of noncurrent accounts receivable.

d. Observation of cobwebs on some inventory bins.

27.

Which of the following statements regarding documentation is not correct?

medium

a. Documentation includes examining client records such as general ledgers and supporting journals.

b. Internal documents are documents that are generated within the company and used to communicate with external parties.

c. External documents are documents that are generated outside of the company and are used to communicate the results of a transaction.

d. External documents are considered more reliable than internal documents.

28.

medium

When making decisions about evidence for a given audit, the auditor’s goal is to obtain a sufficient amount of timely, reliable evidence that is relevant to the information being verified, and to do so:

a. no matter the cost involved in obtaining such evidence.

b. at any cost because the costs are billed to the client.

c. at the lowest possible total cost.

d. at the cost suggested in the engagement letter.

29.

“Physical examination” is the inspection or count by the auditor of items such as:

medium

a. cash, inventory, and payroll timecards.

b. cash, inventory, canceled cheques, and sales documents.

c. cash, inventory, canceled cheques, and tangible fixed assets.

d. cash, inventory, securities, notes receivable, and tangible fixed assets.

30.

Which items affect the sufficiency of evidence when choosing a sample?

medium

Selecting items with a high likelihood of misstatement

The randomness of the items selected

Yes

31.

Which of the following is an example of vouching?

medium

a. Trace inventory purchases from the acquisitions journal to supporting invoices.

b. Trace selected sales invoices to the sales journal.

c. Trace details of employee paycheques to the payroll journal.

d. All of the above are examples of vouching.

32.

Which of the following statements about confirmations is true?

medium

a. Confirmations are expensive and so are often not used.

b. Confirmations may inconvenience those asked to supply them, but they are widely used.

c. Confirmations are sometimes not reliable and so auditors use them only as necessary.

d. Confirmations are required for several balance sheet accounts but no income statement accounts.

33.

Traditionally, confirmations are used to verify:

medium

a. individual transactions between organizations, such as sales transactions.

b. bank balances and accounts receivable.

c. fixed asset additions.

d. payroll expenses.

34.

To be considered reliable evidence, confirmations must be controlled by:

medium

a. a client employee responsible for accounts receivable.

b. a financial statement auditor.

c. a client’s internal audit department.

d. a client’s controller or CFO.

35.

medium

Indicate whether confirmation of accounts receivable and accounts payable is required or optional:

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Payable

Required

Optional

Required

Optional

36.

medium

The Auditing Standards Board has concluded that analytical procedures are so important that they are required during:

a. planning and test of control phases.

b. planning and completion phases.

c. test of control and completion phases.

d. planning, test of control, and completion phases.

37.

Which of the following statements regarding analytical procedures is not correct?

medium

a. Analytical tests emphasize a comparison of client internal controls to GAAP.

b. Analytical procedures are required on all audits.

c. Analytical procedures can be used as substantive tests.

d. For certain accounts with small balances, analytical procedures alone may be sufficient evidence.

38.

medium

A benefit obtained from comparing the client’s data with industry averages is that it provides a(n):

a. indication of the likelihood of financial problems.

b. indication where errors exist in the statements.

c. benchmark to be used in evaluating a client’s budgets.

d. comparison of “what is” with “what should be.”

39.

medium

The primary purpose of performing analytical procedures in the planning phase of an audit is to:

a. help the auditor obtain an understanding of the client’s industry and business.

b. assess the going concern assumption.

c. indicate possible misstatements.

d. reduce detailed tests.

40.

Which of the following is not a correct combination of terms and related type of audit evidence?

medium

a. Foot – re-performance.

b. Compare – documentation.

c. Vouch – documentation.

d. Trace – analytical procedures.

41.

Which of the following is not a correct combination of terms and related type of audit evidence?

medium

a. Inquire – inquiries of client.

b. Count – physical examination.

c. Recompute – documentation.

d. Read – documentation.

42.

Which of the following is not one of the major types of analytical procedures?

medium

a. Compare client with industry averages.

b. Compare client with prior year.

c. Compare client with budget.

d. Compare client with SEC averages.

43.

What is the overall objective of audit documentation?

medium

a. Defend against claims of a deficient audit.

b. Provide a basis for reviewing the work of subordinates.

c. Provide reasonable assurance that the audit was conducted in accordance with standards.

d. Provide additional support of recorded amounts to the client.

44.

An important benefit of industry comparisons is as:

medium

a. an aid to understanding the client’s business.

b. an indicator of errors.

c. an indicator of fraud.

d. a least-cost indicator for audit procedures.

45.

The permanent files included as part of audit documentation do not normally include:

medium

a. a copy of the current and prior years’ audit programs.

b. copies of articles of incorporation, bylaws and contracts.

c. information related to the understanding of internal control.

d. results of analytical procedures from prior years.

46.

Those procedures specifically outlined in an audit program are primarily designed to

medium

a. prevent litigation.

b. detect errors or irregularities.

c. test internal systems.

d. gather evidence.

47.

Evidence is generally considered appropriate when:

medium

a. it has been obtained by random selection.

b. there is enough of it to afford a reasonable basis form an opinion on financial statements.

c. it has the qualities of being relevant, objective, and free from known bias.

d. it consists of written statements made by managers of the enterprise under audit.

48.

challenging

Given the economic constraints in which auditors collect evidence, the auditor normally gathers evidence that is:

a. irrefutable.

b. conclusive.

c. persuasive.

d. completely convincing.

49.

challenging

The auditor is concerned that a client is failing to bill customers for shipments. An audit procedure that would gather relevant evidence would be to:

a. select a sample of duplicate sales invoices and trace each to related shipping documents.

b. trace a sample of shipping documents to related duplicate sales invoices.

c. trace a sample of Sales Journal entries to the Accounts Receivable subsidiary ledger.

d. compare the total of the Schedule of Accounts Receivable with the balance of the Accounts Receivable account in the general ledger.

50.

Relevance can be considered only in terms of:

challenging

a. general audit objectives.

b. specific audit objectives.

c. transaction audit objectives.

d. balance audit objectives.

51.

challenging

Audit documentation should possess certain characteristics. Which of the following is one of the characteristics?

Audit documentation should be indexed and cross-referenced

Audit documentation should be organized to benefit the client’s staff

Yes

52.

Which of the following statements is not a correct use of the terminology?

medium

a. Evidence obtained from an independent source outside the client organization is more reliable than that obtained from within.

b. Documentary evidence is more reliable when it is received by the auditor indirectly rather than directly.

c. Documents that originate outside the company are considered more reliable than those that originate within the client’s organization.

d. External evidence, such as communications from banks, is generally regarded as more reliable than answers obtained from inquiries of the client.

53.

Evidence is usually more persuasive for balance sheet accounts when it is obtained:

challenging

a. as close to the balance sheet date as possible.

b. only from transactions occurring on the balance sheet date.

c. from various times throughout the client’s year.

d. from the time period when transactions in that account were most numerous during the fiscal period.

54.

Audit documentation should provide support for:

medium

The audit report

The financial statements

Yes

Other Objective Answer Format Questions

75. medium	Below are 12 audit procedures. Classify each procedure according to the following types of audit evidence: (1) physical examination, (2) confirmation, (3) documentation, (4) observation, (5) inquiry of the client, (6) reperformance, and (7) analytical procedure.
Type of Evidence	Audit Procedures
observation	1. Watch client employees count inventory to determine whether company procedures are being followed.
Physical verification	2. Count inventory items and record the amount in the audit files.
Reperformance	3. Trace postings from the sales journal to the general ledger accounts.
Analytical	4. Calculate the ratio of cost of goods sold to sales as a test of overall reasonableness of gross margin relative to the preceding year.
inquiry	5. Obtain information about the client’s internal controls by asking questions of client personnel.
Reperformance	6. Trace column totals from the cash disbursements journal to the general ledger.
Physical	7. Examine a piece of equipment to make sure a recent purchase of equipment was actually received and is in operation.
Analytical	8. Review the total of repairs and maintenance for each month to determine whether any month’s total was unusually large.
documentation	9. Compare vendor names and amounts on purchases invoices with entries in the purchases journal.
Reperformance	10. Foot entries in the sales journal to determine whether they were correctly totaled by the client.
Physical	11. Make a surprise count of petty cash to verify that the amount of the petty cash fund is intact.
Confirmation	12. Obtain a written statement from the client’s bank stating the client’s year-end balance on deposit.
	Answer: 1. Observation 2. Physical examination 3. Reperformance 4. Analytical procedure 5. Inquiry of the client 6. Reperformance 7. Physical examination 8. Analytical procedure 9. Documentation 10. Reperformance 11. Physical examination 12. Confirmation

76. medium	Match nine of the terms (a-k) with the definitions provided below (1-9):
	a. Foot
	b. Compute
	c. Scan
	d. Inquire
	e. Count
	f. Trace
	g. Recompute
	h. Read
	i. Examine
	j. Observe
	k. Compare

b	1. A calculation done by the auditor independent of the client.

a	2. Addition of a column of numbers to determine if the total is the same as the client’s.

k	3. A comparison of information in two different locations.

j	4. A use of the senses to assess certain activities.

f	5. Following details of transactions from original documents to journals.

c	6. A less detailed examination of a document or record to determine if there is something unusual warranting further investigation.

d	7. Obtaining information from the client in response to specific questions.

e	8. A determination of assets on hand at a given time.

h	9. An examination of written information to determine facts pertinent to the audit.

77.	Match five of the terms (a-h) with the definitions provided below (1-5):
medium
	a. Audit documentation
	b. Audit procedures
	c. Audit objectives
	d. Analytical procedures
	e. Budgets
	f. Reliability of evidence
	g. Sufficiency of evidence
	h. Persuasiveness of evidence

d	1. Use of comparisons and relationships to assess the reasonableness of account balances.

b	2. Detailed instructions for the collection of a type of audit evidence.

f	3. The degree to which evidence can be considered believable or trustworthy.

a	4. Contains all the information that the auditor considers necessary to conduct an adequate audit and to provide support for the audit report.

g	5. This is determined by the amount of evidence obtained.

78. medium	Below are 10 documents typically examined during an audit. Classify each document as either internal or external.
Type of Document	Documents
	1. Canceled cheques for payments of accounts payable.
	2. Payroll time cards.
	3. Duplicate sales invoices.
	4. Vendors’ invoices.
	5. Bank statements.
	6. Minutes of the board of directors’ meetings.
	7. Signed lease agreements.
	8. Notes receivable.
	9. Subsidiary accounts receivable records.
	10. Remittance advices.
	Answer: 1. External 6. Internal 2. Internal 7. External 3. Internal 8. External 4. External 9. Internal 5. External 10. External

79. Ans b	Cost should never be a consideration when making decisions about evidence for a given audit. a. True b. False
80. Ans a	Confirmations are among the most expensive type of evidence to obtain. a. True b. False
81. Ans b	Observation is normally more reliable than physical examination. a. True b. False
82. Ans b	Inquiries of the client are usually sufficient to provide appropriate evidence to satisfy an audit objective. a. True b. False
83. Ans b	A canceled cheques written by the client, made payable to a local supplier and drawn on the client’s bank account is one type of internal document. a. True b. False
84. Ans a	Whenever practical and reasonable, the confirmation of accounts receivable is required of CPAs. a. True b. False
85. Ans a	Inquiries of clients and Reperformance normally have a low cost associated with them. a. True b. False
86. Ans b	When analytical procedures reveal unusual fluctuations in an account balance, the auditor will probably perform fewer tests of details for that account and increase the tests of controls related to the account. a. True b. False
87. Ans a	The type of audit evidence known as inquiry requires the auditor to obtain oral information from the client in response to questions. a. True b. False
88. medium b	One of the primary determinants of the reliability of audit evidence is the quantity of evidence. a. True b. False
89. medium b	Audit documentation is the joint property of the auditor and the audit client. a. True b. False

90. medium a	Objective evidence is more reliable, and hence more persuasive, than subjective evidence. a. True b. False
91. medium a	Ordinarily, audit documentation can be provided to someone else only with the express permission of the client. a. True b. False
92. medium a	Analytical procedures must be used in the planning and completion phases of the audit. a. True b. False
93. medium a	Confirmations are ordinarily used to verify account balances, but may be used to verify transactions. a. True b. False
94. medium a	Of the three common types of confirmations used by auditors, the least reliable type is the negative confirmation. a. True b. False
95. medium b	Accounts receivable confirmations must be controlled by the client from the time they are prepared until the time they are returned to the auditor. a. True b. False
96. medium a	Cost is never an adequate justification for omitting a necessary procedure or not gathering an adequate sample size. a. True b. False
97. medium b	Analytical procedures can be used to provide reliable substantive evidence for all balance-related audit objectives. a. True b. False
98. medium b	One advantage of using statistical techniques when performing analytical procedures is that they eliminate the need for auditor judgment. a. True b. False
99. medium a	Relevance of evidence can only be considered in terms of specific audit objectives. a. True b. False

Multiple-Choice Questions-Audit Evidence