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Sample Questions
Question 1
Easy
Which of the following is best classified as a preventive control?
Solution
C is correct. A preventive control stops an error or irregularity before it happens. A system edit that refuses to pay any invoice without a matching approved purchase order stops the unauthorized payment before any money leaves the organization. Detective controls find a problem after it has occurred. Reconciliations and exception-report reviews are detective controls. Corrective controls fix the damage once a problem has been found, as a restoration from backup does. Knowing these three types helps the internal auditor judge whether a process relies mainly on stopping problems or on finding and fixing them afterward.
Question 2
Medium
Which of the following is most likely to impair the independence of the internal audit function?
Solution
D is correct. Under the Global Internal Audit Standards the board reviews and approves the internal audit function's resources, including the budget, and the chief audit executive reports to the board when resources are insufficient (Standards 8.2 and 10.1). When senior management alone determines the budget, the areas subject to audit gain indirect control over how much work the function can perform, which is a resource-based limitation on scope and therefore an impairment of organizational independence that the chief audit executive must communicate to the board.
Question 3
Hard
An employee hands an auditor a coworker's personnel file, taken without authorization, and alleges payroll fraud. What should the auditor do first?
Solution
B is correct. Two obligations operate at once. Standard 1.3 (Legal and Ethical Behavior) and Standard 5.1 (Use of Information) prohibit the auditor from using information obtained improperly or in violation of privacy expectations, so the file itself cannot be treated as engagement evidence at the auditor's own discretion. At the same time, Standard 4.3 (Professional Skepticism) requires an unbiased and critical assessment of the allegation, which cannot be dismissed simply because its source is tainted. Escalating to the chief audit executive resolves both: the allegation enters the organization's established channel for suspected fraud, and decisions about handling the improperly obtained document, involving legal counsel, and pursuing the matter through authorized sources are made at the appropriate level.
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