AU-M study plan

Define the audit evidence hierarchy and rank reliability of inspection, observation, inquiry, confirmation, recalculation, reperformance, and analytical procedures

Distinguish tests of controls from substantive procedures and classify ten example procedures into the correct category

Explain sufficiency and appropriateness of evidence and identify three situations where evidence is persuasive rather than conclusive

Practice writing a short evidence memo that links an identified risk to the specific procedures that address it

Select the appropriate evidence-gathering procedure for each financial statement assertion in a practice scenario set

Perform a simplified risk assessment that ranks inherent risk by account and justifies each ranking

Calculate materiality at the overall and performance levels and set a clearly supported threshold for trivial misstatements

Draft risk-of-material-misstatement notes that connect an inherent risk to a planned audit response

Distinguish the five components of internal control and give one example control for each

Identify control deficiencies and classify them as deficiency, significant deficiency, or material weakness using stated criteria

Design a test of controls for a manual and an automated control, specifying sample selection and evidence to retain

Explain how the auditor's understanding of controls affects the nature, timing, and extent of substantive procedures

Outline the audit process from engagement acceptance through report issuance, naming the key output of each stage

Apply the fundamental principles of professional ethics to five short ethical dilemma scenarios

Identify threats to independence and select appropriate safeguards for each threat category

Explain the auditor's responsibilities regarding fraud, laws and regulations, and going concern at a high level

Distinguish statistical from nonstatistical sampling and state when each is appropriate

Compute sample size drivers and interpret sampling risk, tolerable deviation rate, and expected deviation rate

Evaluate a set of sample results and conclude whether the control can be relied upon

Apply basic data analysis techniques such as recomputation, gap detection, and duplicate testing to a described dataset

Summarize the auditor's reporting framework and the conditions that require modification of the opinion

Distinguish the audit report elements for an unmodified opinion versus a qualified opinion

Describe how IT general controls and application controls affect the audit approach

Identify risks introduced by automated processing, such as interface errors and unauthorized changes, and the procedures that address them

Draft clear, objective communication of findings to those charged with governance, including a significant deficiency

Evaluate misstatements accumulated during the audit and determine whether they are material individually or in aggregate

Write documentation that satisfies the standard of sufficient, appropriate record of work performed

Critique a weak workpaper and rewrite it to meet documentation standards

Complete a timed mixed-domain practice set and score each domain separately to expose weak areas

Re-teach the three lowest-scoring topics from memory without notes, then verify against source material

Build a one-page formula and framework sheet covering materiality, sampling, and report modification triggers

Simulate exam-day pacing by completing a timed block and reviewing every incorrect answer for root cause