Requirement (b), for eight marks, asked candidates to explain the matters to be considered, and the procedures to be performed, in respect of planning to use the work of the component auditor. This requirement was relatively well attempted, with the majority of answers covering a range of relevant matters and associated procedures.

It was clear that many candidates had studied this part of the syllabus, and could apply their knowledge to the question scenario. Most candidates identified that the component audit firm was a small firm, so resourcing the audit could be an issue, and that due to its overseas location there may be differences in the ethical code and auditing standards used by the firm.

Weaker answers incorrectly discussed the problem of the overseas subsidiary not reporting under IFRS (the question clearly stated that it did) and tended to focus on accounting issues rather than answering the question requirement. Some answers were also very brief for the marks available, amounting to little more than a few sentences or a short list of bullet points.

The UK and Ireland (IRL) adapted papers had a slightly different style in that the question requirements were not separated out and some extra information had been included in the question. The candidates attempting these adapted papers dealt well with the style of question requirements, and on the whole devoted an appropriate amount of time to the discussion of each of the requirements.

There were four professional marks available, and most candidates secured at least two of these marks by providing an introduction and using headings to create an appropriate structure for their answer. Too few answers contained a conclusion, and a significant minority of answers included a heading for a conclusion, but with nothing written underneath that heading, so the conclusion mark could not be awarded.

Candidates are reminded that practising past exam questions with a careful review of model answers is essential in order to build up a good technique for audit planning requirements such as seen in this question.