Question 4a ii
Examiners Report

Part (aii) for 3 marks required the steps the firm should take to confirm whether the preconditions for the audit were in place. Where it was answered, candidates performed unsatisfactorily on this question.

Answers tended to be in two camps, those who had studied preconditions and were able to score all three marks and those who had not studied it and so failed to score any marks. This is a knowledge area and has been tested in a previous diet. Candidates must practice past exam questions and ensure they study the breadth of the syllabus.

Those candidates who did not score well, tended to repeat points that had been made in part (ai) of the question or they included points that should have been in their answer for (ai). Some chose to combine their answers for (ai) and (aii) together, this tended to produce unfocused answers.