Advanced Audit, Assurance and Forensics

Where the marks are

Percentages are the examinable weighting for each area. Revising in this order puts your time where the marks are.

1. Planning and Undertaking Audit Work

   30%

   Overall audit strategy (including sustainability assurance) · Assessment of risks, internal controls and internal financial controls · Evaluation of accounting treatments · Specialised audits and investigations: Forensic investigation and reporting · Specialised audits and investigations: Not-for-profit organisations - charities and NGOs · Joint audits · Group audit · Investigations · Due diligence reviews for mergers, acquisitions and business combinations · Sustainability reporting assurance (ISSA 5000) and FRC Nigeria guidelines on assurance and management reporting on internal control over financial reporting

2. Laws and Regulations on Audit and Assurance Engagements

   20%

   Laws and regulations · Professional and ethical issues

3. Drawing Conclusions and Reporting

   20%

   Drawing conclusions · Audit report

4. Quality Management for Professional Firms and Engagements

   15%

   Accepting engagements · Practice management (including quality management ISQM 1 & ISQM 2)

5. Application of Information Technology (IT) in Auditing

   10%

   Impact of IT on an auditing environment · Benefits of IT control frameworks in internal controls (e.g. COBIT Framework) · Cyber security in relation to audit and investigation · Application and web trust assurance · Application of algorithm reviews in business · Application of digital forensics · Data protection regulation compliance audit · Utilisation of robotic process automation in audit

6. Current Issues and Development in Audit and Assurance

   5%

   Audit in a blockchain environment · Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in audit · Deployment of virtual reality in audit and assurance · Use of cloud based audit tools · Role of data analytics in auditing · Audit firm/partners' rotation · Transnational audit

Where candidates lose this paper

The Institute publishes its own past questions. What it cannot give you is an answer to these.

There is not enough time to read the whole study text before the diet.

The official study text condensed and reorganised by examinable weighting, with every claim cited back to the page it came from — so you can check anything you doubt in one click.

You write practice answers for months and never find out whether a single one would have scored.

Write by hand, photograph it, and have it marked against the examiner's own marking guide — with the marks broken down the way the examiner breaks them down, and the reason for each one.

The study text is hundreds of pages and none of it tells you which parts the examiner actually asks about.

Every syllabus topic, ordered by the share of marks it carries, so your revision time follows the marks instead of the page count.

You know the answer but lose marks anyway, and no one ever explains where they went.

The Institute's published solution beside your attempt, with the mark allocation visible — so you can see the marks sitting in the principle and the application, not only the final figure.

You have only ever typed your answers, and the paper is written by hand.

Timed mocks written on paper, under exam conditions, so you discover how long handwriting takes before it costs you a question.