Part (biii) for 4 marks required substantive procedures for an issue on a reorganisation announced just before the year end. Performance on this question was also unsatisfactory; a significant minority did not even attempt this part of the question. Those candidates who scored well focused on gaining evidence of the provision, therefore they provided valid procedures like “recalculating the provision”, “discussing the basis of the provision with management”, “obtaining a written representation confirming the assumptions and basis of the provision” and “reviewing the board minutes to confirm management have committed to the reorganisation”. Some candidates failed to read the question properly and assumed that the reorganisation had already occurred as opposed to being announced just before the year end. Therefore many provided answers aimed at confirming that assets had been disposed of and staff had been retrained. In addition some candidates focused on whether the company was making the correct business decisions by reorganising. Many procedures also lacked sufficient detail to score the available 1 mark per test. This commonly occurred with tests such as; “reviewing board minutes” and “obtain written representation”. These procedures need to be phrased with sufficient detail to obtain credit, therefore if we consider the following candidates answers: • “Obtain a written representation from management” - this would not have scored any marks as it does not specify what the representation is for. • “Obtain a written representation from management in relation to the provision” - this would have scored ½ marks as it did not specify what element of the provision we wanted confirmation over. • “Obtain a written representation from management confirming the assumptions and basis of the provision”- this would have scored 1 mark as it clearly states what is required from management, and in relation to which balance and for which element. As stated in previous examiner reports, substantive procedures are a core topic area and future candidates must focus on being able to generate specific and detailed tests which are applied to any scenario provided.