Meaning of audit sampling.
There are three ways to select an item.
Full check: Test all items contained in a population.
Specific item checks: Specific items are tested but no inferences are made about the population.
Sampling check: Audit sampling to extrapolate overall conclusions from the results of the sample.
Meaning of audit sampling.
The CPA implements audit procedures for less than 100% of the items in the audit-relevant population, so that all sampling units have the opportunity to be selected, and provides a reasonable basis for the CPA to draw conclusions on the overall population.
CPAs are usually only required to evaluate the relevant account balance for material misstatement, and do not need to determine its initial amount.
Basic features: Audit sampling should have the following three basic characteristics at the same time:
Implement audit procedures for less than 100% of the items in the overall population that are audit-relevant, i.e., the full check is not part of the audit sampling;
All sampling units have an equal chance to be selected (but this does not mean that all sampling units should have an equal chance);
Conclusions about the sampled population can be inferred from the test results of the sample items.
Sample representativeness.
Definition. representativeness, which means that, at a given level of risk, the CPA's conclusions based on the sample are similar to those reached by applying the same audit procedures as the sample for the entire population; Only when the sample taken from the sampled population is representative can the CPA infer conclusions about the population based on the test results of the sample items.
Relevant factors. related to the sample as a whole; related to the incidence of misstatement; It is related to how the sample is selected, i.e., if the sample is selected unbiased, the sample is usually representative, while the selection of a particular item is not.
Extraneous factors. Irrelevant to individual items in the sample; Independent of the specific nature of the misstatement, e.g., a sample misstatement resulting from an anomaly is not representative; Independent of sample size, i.e., increasing the sample size does not improve representativeness.
Applicability of audit sampling.
Risk assessments (including walk-through tests) are not applicable to audit sampling.
Control testing. There is a trajectory (except for information technology control), and audit sampling is applicable.
There are operational trajectories (information technology general control and information processing control), and audit sampling is not applicable.
There is no running trace, and audit sampling is not applicable.
Substantive Procedure.
Detail testing, applicable to audit sampling.
Substantive analysis, audit sampling is not applicable.