ICAB PL Audit & Assurance study plan
ICAB PL Audit & Assurance · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Audit framework and regulation & Professional ethics and quality management
Map the regulatory architecture that governs statutory audits, listing the bodies, their roles and the instruments they issue, from memory
Distinguish the legal duties, appointment rules, removal and resignation procedures that attach to a company auditor
Explain how ethical requirements and quality management standards interact with the regulatory framework rather than standing apart from it
Draft a one-page summary of the five fundamental ethical principles with a concrete audit scenario illustrating each threat category
Your checkpoint
A one-page regulatory and ethics map covering at least 12 named bodies, instruments or requirements with a one-line function for each
Audit framework and regulation & Professional ethics and quality management
Apply the independence rules to at least six constructed scenarios involving fees, long association, gifts, family relationships, non-audit services and financial interests
Evaluate the safeguards available when a threat cannot be eliminated and justify whether they reduce the threat to an acceptable level
Outline the components of a firm's quality management system and explain how engagement quality reviews and monitoring fit within it
Explain the auditor's responsibilities regarding money laundering, fraud reporting and communication with those charged with governance
Your checkpoint
A scenario workbook of six independence cases, each with threat identified, category, severity rating, safeguard and conclusion
Planning and risk assessment
Perform a full risk assessment on a supplied company profile, identifying at least eight risks at financial statement and assertion level
Apply the audit risk model to link inherent, control and detection risk to the nature, timing and extent of planned procedures
Determine materiality, performance materiality and the clearly trivial threshold with a documented rationale for each benchmark chosen
Distinguish the purpose of analytical procedures at the planning stage from their use as substantive evidence
Your checkpoint
A planning memorandum for one company containing materiality calculations, a risk register of at least eight risks and a linked response for each
Planning and risk assessment & Internal control and audit evidence
Design an overall audit strategy and a detailed audit plan that respond directly to the risks identified in the planning memorandum
Evaluate the five components of internal control for a sales and receivables cycle and identify specific deficiencies in segregation of duties
Distinguish test of control from substantive procedure and select the appropriate approach for each identified risk
Construct a sampling plan stating population, sampling unit, method, sample size drivers and evaluation of results
Your checkpoint
A cycle-level internal control questionnaire and walkthrough narrative for revenue and receivables, with at least five deficiencies and a recommended test for each
Internal control and audit evidence
Rank the reliability of audit evidence by source and nature, and justify the ranking for at least eight specific evidence types
Design substantive procedures for inventory, receivables, payables and provisions that address existence, valuation and cut-off
Explain the auditor's procedures for opening balances, accounting estimates and related party transactions
Evaluate when to use the work of an expert, an internal auditor or a component auditor, and state the review and documentation required
Your checkpoint
An evidence matrix mapping at least 12 assertions to specific procedures, evidence type, reliability rating and documentation requirement
Audit reporting and completion
Evaluate the sufficiency and appropriateness of evidence gathered and conclude whether it supports an unmodified opinion
Determine the type of modification required across at least five scenarios spanning material but not pervasive, and pervasive misstatement or limitation of scope
Draft the key paragraphs of an auditor's report including key audit matters, going concern and other information sections
Apply the going concern assessment framework to a loss-making entity and document the adequacy of disclosures
Your checkpoint
Three complete auditor's report extracts drafted from supplied fact patterns, each with a justified opinion type and an explanation of why the alternative opinion was rejected
Audit reporting and completion & Professional ethics and quality management
Compile a completion file covering subsequent events review, written representations, engagement review and the assembly of the final audit file
Explain the documentation retention and confidentiality rules that apply after the report is signed
Analyse how a quality management failure at firm level could produce an audit failure, using a constructed case
Summarise the auditor's response to discovered non-compliance with laws and regulations, including communication and withdrawal considerations
Your checkpoint
A completion checklist of at least 15 items with, for each, the responsible party, the evidence expected and the consequence of omission
Audit framework and regulation & Planning and risk assessment & Internal control and audit evidence & Audit reporting and completion & Professional ethics and quality management
Synthesise all five domains by working through two full integrated case studies under timed conditions
Diagnose recurring error patterns from earlier weeks and re-test the three weakest areas
Practise written answers that state the requirement, apply the standard and reach a clear conclusion within the mark allocation
Consolidate a personal one-page memory sheet linking each domain to its core standards and decision rules
Your checkpoint
Two timed mock case studies completed with self-marking against a model answer and a written remediation list of no more than five weak areas
Milestones
Week 2: Score at least 70 percent on a self-set 20-question ethics and regulation quiz, and correctly classify the threat category in all six independence scenarios without consulting notes
Week 4: Produce a planning memorandum that a reviewer accepts as internally consistent: every risk in the register maps to at least one planned response, and materiality is calculated with a stated benchmark and rationale
Week 6: Select the correct opinion type in at least four of five unseen fact patterns and justify the choice in two or three sentences each
Week 8: Complete both timed mock cases within the allotted time, achieving at least 60 percent on self-marking with no domain scoring below 50 percent