Most of AUD (Auditing and Attestation) gives you a set of facts and asks what the auditor should conclude or do next. The three questions below show what that looks like, and they're from the more than 1,700 CPA AUD practice questions on FreeFellow, which I run.
Every question has a step-by-step solution and notes on the answer choices. You can try samples with no signup, and a free account opens the full bank. The full original question bank is free with an account, subject to usage limits. Worked solutions, written lessons, mixed practice, and your readiness score stay free. For a week-by-week plan, use the CPA AUD study guide.
What AUD tests
AUD is a 4-hour section with five testlets: two multiple-choice testlets of 39 questions each, then 7 task-based simulations split 2, 3 and 2. Each format counts for 50% of your score, per the AICPA's Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, in effect since January 2026. You need a 75 on a 0 to 99 scale, which the AICPA says isn't a percentage correct.
Scroll horizontally to view all columns.
| Content area | Share of the section |
|---|---|
| Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles | 15 to 25% |
| Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response | 25 to 35% |
| Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence | 30 to 40% |
| Forming Conclusions and Reporting | 10 to 20% |
AUD is the only one of the six CPA sections tested at the evaluation level, which the blueprint defines as using judgment to draw conclusions. That's 5 to 15% of the section, plus 15 to 25% at analysis, both in the risk and evidence areas. Application is 30 to 40%, and the last 30 to 40% is remembering and understanding. The blueprint also tells you to watch the entity type (issuer or nonissuer) and engagement type in each question, and the last question below depends on it.
A new blueprint takes effect January 1, 2027, with the same format and weights and small edits to examples in the evidence area. The bigger change is QC 1000, the PCAOB's quality control standard, which becomes eligible for testing on AUD that day, apart from the parts the PCAOB amended in September 2026, which follow later. As of November 2026, FreeFellow's bank and lessons don't cover QC 1000, so read the AICPA's note on the same page.
Three AUD questions to try
These are from FreeFellow's bank. Try each one before you read the answer.
An estimate that raises revenue
A construction company uses cost-to-cost revenue recognition. Management reduced estimated total costs by 15% on two significant contracts, sharply increasing revenue and gross profit. How should the auditor respond?
- A. Conclude that the downward revisions establish loss contracts requiring a loss provision
- B. Assess the risk as high and evaluate the revised cost estimates for bias
- C. Accept the revised cost estimates without further inquiry into management's judgment
- D. Limit the audit procedures to recalculating the percentage of completion under the revised estimates
The answer is B. Under cost-to-cost, percent complete is costs incurred divided by estimated total costs. Cut the total by 15% and each contract looks further along, so revenue and profit jump with no new work. An estimate like that needs evidence behind it, such as subcontractor bids and engineering reports. A goes the wrong way, because lower expected costs make a contract more profitable. D only recalculates the percentage, which checks the arithmetic and takes the new estimate as given. C skips the audit work.
Missing countersignatures
An auditor testing an entity's disbursement approval controls finds 6 missing countersignatures in a statistical sample of 80 vouchers. The tolerable deviation rate is 5%. How should the auditor evaluate these results?
- A. The 7.5% deviation rate reflects normal sampling fluctuation; rely on the control.
- B. The sample of 80 is too small; expand it to 150 items.
- C. The deviations indicate fraud; escalate the matter to the audit committee.
- D. The 7.5% deviation rate exceeds the tolerable rate; increase substantive testing.
The answer is D. Six of 80 is 7.5%, already above the 5% tolerable rate, and a statistical sample adds an allowance for sampling risk before you compare. The sample doesn't support relying on the control, so you do more substantive testing of disbursements instead. A treats an excess rate as noise. B has nothing behind it, since no standard sets 150 as the required size. C jumps too far: you'd look into why the signatures are missing, but six of them don't establish fraud.
A former partner joins the client
A former engagement partner becomes a nonissuer client's CFO after settling financial ties and relinquishing influence over the firm. Under the AICPA Code, what else must the firm do before continuing the audit?
- A. Continue without further evaluation after ending financial ties and firm influence.
- B. Apply a mandatory one-year exclusion from every audit of the client.
- C. Treat prior engagement-partner service as an incurable firmwide impairment.
- D. Evaluate remaining threats and apply the required safeguards.
The answer is D. Settling financial ties and giving up influence cover only part of the AICPA Code's list (ET 1.279.020). The team also has to consider changing its procedures, since the former partner knows the audit plan, and the firm checks that the team has the experience and stature to deal with them. If they joined within a year of leaving and work closely with the team, someone at the firm reviews the next engagement for skepticism. B sounds like the SEC rules for issuers, which carry a separate cooling-off restriction for certain former audit-team members, but this client is a nonissuer, so the AICPA's safeguards apply. A stops too early, and C goes too far, because the Code's safeguards can keep independence intact.
Task-based simulations on AUD
A simulation gives you a client scenario and several exhibits, then a set of tasks to complete from them. The AICPA publishes a retired AUD simulation with answers and rationales, where you read a planning memo and data reports and choose an audit procedure for each row from an option list. I'd work through it first.
The AICPA estimates 20 to 30 minutes per simulation. Seven at 20 minutes is 140 of your 240 minutes, which leaves about 77 seconds for each multiple-choice question, so practice your pacing with both formats.
FreeFellow has more than 60 AUD simulations with exhibits, graded cell by cell, with answers in spreadsheet-style cells or option lists. One, a planning materiality case, is a free preview: sign in with a free account, open AUD, choose Browse simulations and filter to Free preview. The rest are part of Fellow ($39 a month or $79 a quarter, covering all six CPA sections), which also has timed mocks at the full 78 questions and 7 simulations.
The AUD set has no document-review items, where you edit a draft document, and it doesn't run in the exam software. For the software, use the AICPA's free sample test: a shorter version of the exam with items from all six sections, up to two hours and no score.