Question 2b was worth 4 marks and required candidates explain four audit assertions relevant to the recording of classes of transactions.

Most candidates provided four, valid points; however, there was significant confusion regarding which assertions related to classes of transactions even though study material and ISA 500 clearly make that distinction.

The use of general memory joggers such as CODRACE appeared to work against candidates for this question with many assertions such as rights and obligations being incorrectly included in answers. The term “measurement” was also still being used even though this is no longer relevant to ISA 500.

There were two overall weaknesses in many answers

• Firstly, not mentioning classes of transactions assertions as noted above. 
• Secondly, not providing a valid explanation of each assertion. Many assertions were explained using a key term from another assertion; for example, “occurrence means that the transaction has been completely recorded”.

These answers gain 0.5 marks for stating a correct assertion but no 0.5 mark for the explanation. Many assertions were also explained using the assertion term only; for example, “completeness means the transaction is complete”. In this case additional detail was almost always needed to show that, in this case, completeness meant all transactions within that class had been recorded.

In summary, the question was relatively well answered.