Sample Questions
Question 1
Easy
According to IIA guidance, what does a process map primarily provide to an engagement team?
Solution
C is correct. A process map portrays a process as it actually operates: the order of activities, the handoffs between people, units, and systems, and the points at which controls are applied. Internal auditors use that depiction during planning and fieldwork to locate control points, spot gaps and duplicated effort, and design procedures that test the steps that matter. It is a tool for understanding and analyzing the activity under review, consistent with the Global Internal Audit Standards' requirement that engagement work rest on an adequate understanding of the process (Standard 13.2, Engagement Risk Assessment).
Question 2
Medium
An internal audit function is selecting its first process for continuous auditing. Which characteristic makes a process most suitable?
Solution
C is correct. Continuous auditing applies automated tests to a population on a recurring schedule, so the candidate process must supply two things: criteria that can be written as machine-executable rules, and system-captured data the routine can read each cycle without manual preparation. High volume makes the investment worthwhile, because manual sampling covers only a fraction of the transactions, and stable rules keep the routine valid between builds. A process with those characteristics lets the internal audit function obtain assurance over the full population between engagements.
Question 3
Hard
Trend analysis shows rework costs flat for three years, but a mid-year plant closure moved a third of production elsewhere. What should the auditor do first?
Solution
D is correct. An analytical review is only as good as the comparability of its basis. The mid-period closure changed the underlying production population, so an unchanged absolute rework total actually implies rework per unit rose at the remaining sites. Before drawing any conclusion, the auditor normalizes the measure to a consistent denominator (rework cost per unit produced by site), which restores comparability and reveals whether the flat trend is real or an artifact of the shifted basis. Only then can the condition be measured against criteria and its significance appraised.
