ACCA AA September 2026: Auditor's Responses That Score the Full Mark (Not Half)

In the AA audit risk question, the auditor's response is worth a full mark — double what you get for spotting the risk. And the latest examiner's report confirms most candidates are throwing those marks away.

Half the marks sit in the response column

In the September/December 2025 AA examiner's report, the 14-mark audit risk requirement (Survival Solutions Co) was marked like this: ½ mark for identifying each risk, ½ mark for explaining it, and a full 1 mark for the auditor's response. Do the maths. In any audit risk requirement, roughly half the marks are sitting in the response column — and it's the column candidates handle worst.

The examiner's two biggest complaints

Complaint one: you're writing management responses. The report is explicit that a response "must be one an auditor would take and not a management response." For the risk around the financial controller leaving mid-year, candidates told management to recruit a replacement. That's management's job. The auditor's job is to get evidence — for example, increasing substantive testing over the period after the controller left.

Complaint two: "increase professional scepticism" on its own scores ½ mark, maximum. The examiner spells out why: scepticism alone "does not, on its own, help the auditor to gain suitable audit evidence over the identified audit risk." It's an attitude, not an action. To convert the ½ into a full mark, you must say what the sceptical auditor actually does.

Wrong answer vs right answer

Take the warranty provision risk from that exam: warranty claims had increased during the year, yet the provision was the same value as the prior year — suggesting it may be understated.

Wrong (½ mark): "The auditor should increase professional scepticism over the warranty provision."

Wrong (0 marks): "Management should recalculate the warranty provision to reflect the higher claims." That's a management response.

Right (1 mark): "Discuss the basis of the provision with management, compare the level of warranty claims during the year and after the year end against the amount provided, and recalculate to assess whether the provision is understated."

See the difference? The right answer is something only an auditor does, and it produces evidence over the specific risk identified.

What to do

1. Start every response with an auditor verb. Discuss with management, review, recalculate, inspect, obtain written confirmation. Quick test before you type: could management do this? If yes, it's not your response.

2. Chain the response to the exact risk you explained. The examiner noted candidates gave responses about the cheaper supplier when the risk was the warranty provision. One risk, one matched response — evidence over that assertion, not the general area.

3. Practise the three questions the examiner names. The report specifically recommends Pimento Co (Mar/Jun 2025), Musitastic Co (Sep/Dec 2024) and Green Co (Mar/Jun 2024) from ACCA's published sample exams. Write full responses, then mark yourself against the answer with the ½ vs 1 mark rule in mind.

The bottom line

AA's pass rate was 43% in March 2026 and has hovered in the low 40s for years. In a 14-mark audit risk requirement, the responses alone are worth around 7 marks — that's frequently the gap between 47 and 53.

Stop telling management what to do. Start telling the marker what evidence you'd get.