CPA AUD Audit Sampling Practice Questions
Audit Sampling makes up 4 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest CPA AUD practice test. Here are 10 of the 16 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the AICPA's 2026 AUD blueprint. Original multiple-choice questions; simulations not included. Not affiliated with the AICPA, NASBA or the PCAOB.
1. In attribute sampling for a test of controls, which change increases the required sample size?
- A.A higher acceptable overreliance risk
- B.A lower tolerable deviation rate
- C.A higher tolerable deviation rate
- D.A lower expected deviation rate
Answer: B. Sample size rises when the tolerable rate falls, the expected deviation rate rises, or the acceptable risk of overreliance falls.
2. In a test of controls, the risk of assessing control risk too low relates to the audit's:
- A.Timeliness
- B.Independence
- C.Efficiency
- D.Effectiveness
Answer: D. Overreliance on a control that does not work lets misstatements go undetected, which hurts effectiveness. Underreliance only causes extra work.
3. In substantive sampling, the risk of incorrect rejection affects:
- A.Efficiency
- B.Materiality
- C.Effectiveness
- D.Independence
Answer: A. Incorrect rejection leads the auditor to do more work on a fairly stated balance, which costs efficiency, not effectiveness.
4. An auditor tests 60 invoices for approval and finds 2 unapproved. The sample deviation rate is about:
- A.2.0%
- B.6.0%
- C.3.3%
- D.1.7%
Answer: C. The sample deviation rate is 2 / 60 = 3.3%. The upper deviation limit adds an allowance for sampling risk to this rate.
5. After a test of controls, the upper deviation limit exceeds the tolerable deviation rate. The auditor should:
- A.Raise the tolerable rate
- B.Ignore the deviations
- C.Reduce reliance on the control
- D.Accept the control as effective
Answer: C. If the upper limit exceeds the tolerable rate, the sample does not support the planned reliance, so control risk is assessed higher and substantive work increases.
6. For a large population, increasing the population size in attribute sampling has what effect on the sample size?
- A.Little effect
- B.Lowers it sharply
- C.Doubles it
- D.Raises it proportionally
Answer: A. Once a population is large, its size has very little effect on the sample size needed for a given confidence and tolerable rate.
7. Monetary unit sampling is most suited to testing for:
- A.Negative balances
- B.Understatement of a balance
- C.Zero-balance accounts
- D.Overstatement of a balance
Answer: D. MUS selects in proportion to recorded dollars, so large items are more likely chosen. It is weak at finding understatement and omits zero or negative balances.
8. With a tolerable misstatement of $90,000 and a reliability factor of 3.0, the monetary unit sampling interval is:
- A.$270,000
- B.$30,000
- C.$27,000
- D.$45,000
Answer: B. The sampling interval equals tolerable misstatement divided by the reliability factor: $90,000 / 3.0 = $30,000.
9. In monetary unit sampling with a $25,000 interval, an account recorded at $40,000 is:
- A.Selected only if risky
- B.Certain to be selected
- C.Never selected
- D.Selected half the time
Answer: B. Any item at or above the sampling interval is certain to be selected, since a selection point must fall within it.
10. In monetary unit sampling, an item recorded at $2,000 is audited at $1,500. With a $20,000 interval, the projected misstatement for it is:
- A.$2,500
- B.$10,000
- C.$500
- D.$5,000
Answer: D. The tainting is $500 / $2,000 = 25%. Projected misstatement for an item below the interval is tainting times the interval: 25% x $20,000 = $5,000.
Practice all 16 audit sampling questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free CPA AUD training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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