Part (bi) for 6 marks required substantive procedures for an issue on trade payables and accruals with regards to an early cut off of the purchase ledger resulting in completeness risk. Performance on this question was unsatisfactory.

Candidates were unable to tailor their knowledge of general substantive procedures to the specific issue in the scenario. Most saw that the scenario title was trade payables and accruals and proceeded to list all possible payables tests.

This is not what was required and hence did not score well. The scenario was provided so that candidates could apply their knowledge; however it seems that many did not take any notice of the scenario at all. What was required was tests to specifically address the risk of cut off and completeness due to the purchase ledger being closed one week early.

Common mistakes made by candidates were:

• Providing procedures to address assertions such as rights and obligation for example “review year end purchase invoices to ensure in the company name”. 
• Giving objectives rather than procedures “ensure that cut off is correct”, this is not a substantive procedure and so would not score any marks. 
• Lack of detail in tests such as “perform analytical procedures over payables”, this would score no marks as the actual analytical review procedure has not been given. 
• Believing that “obtaining a management representation” is a valid answer for all substantive procedure questions. 
• Not providing enough tests, candidates should assume 1 mark per valid procedure.