Part (ii) was almost always answered inadequately. Almost all candidates appeared to see the words “tests of controls and substantive procedures” and therefore provided a long list of possible tests of control and substantive procedures on the sale system.

Unfortunately, the question requirement was “discuss the extent to which tests of control and substantive procedures could be used to confirm the assertion of completeness of income...”, a completely different question.

In other words, the question was asking for some commentary on the effectiveness of audit testing in a cash based environment focusing on areas such as the need for clear segregation of duties and authorisation of cash/ticket reconciliations in the company to be confirmed in tests of control. Only a minority of candidates read the question correctly and made this type of comment. The overall standard for this question was inadequate.

Example comments provided and reasons why those comments did not obtain a pass standard are noted below:

(i) 
Answer comment 
Cash might not be received at all. 
Examiner’s assessment of comment 
Not sufficient to link to the scenario, more detail on why cash would not be received as in ticket clerks giving away free tickets, was needed to obtain the mark.

Answer comment 
Security guards do not sign to show how much cash has been received for transfer to the accounts office. 
Examiner’s assessment of comment 
This is a control weakness. However, the issue with completeness is that guards could steal cash as the total has not been confirmed; the answer needed to mention this weakness to obtain full credit.

(ii) 
Answer comment 
Trace cash receipts from the ticket office to the accounts office and subsequent recording in the cash book. 
Examiner’s assessment of comment 
This comment has the makings of a substantive procedure. However, there is no comment on how effective the system is to make the procedure effective. 
As noted above, the main error was simply mis-reading sub-question (ii). The warning for candidates is not to dash into what appears to be an easy question but to read the requirement carefully to ensure the question set by the examiner is actually being answered.