Medium2 marksMultiple Choice
Audit EvidenceCAATsTest DataIT ControlsSyllabus Area D

ACCA · Question 12 · Audit Evidence

SECTION A - CASE 3: AQUAPURE UTILITIES

AquaPure Utilities is a highly regulated public utility company managing water and waste services. You are auditing the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 20X6.

During the audit, you note the following:

  1. AquaPure has a large internal audit (IA) department that recently completed a review of the procurement controls.
  2. The billing system is highly automated, generating millions of micro-invoices based on smart meter readings.
  3. The company owns a vast network of underground water pipes, which are difficult to physically verify.
  4. You plan to use substantive analytical procedures to audit water revenue.

Question:
To test the highly automated billing system, the audit team decides to use Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs), specifically 'Test Data'. What is the primary purpose of using Test Data in this scenario?

Answer options:

A.

To extract a random sample of actual customer invoices for manual recalculation.

B.

To test the operation of application controls within the billing system by processing dummy transactions.

C.

To perform analytical procedures on the entire population of revenue transactions.

D.

To verify the physical existence of the smart meters.

How to approach this question

Differentiate between Audit Software (extracting/analyzing client data) and Test Data (putting auditor data into the client's system). Test data checks the logic and controls of the system.

Full Answer

B.To test the operation of application controls within the billing system by processing dummy transactions.✓ Correct
Test Data involves the auditor submitting dummy data into the client's IT system to ensure that the application controls (such as validation checks, calculations, and logic) are operating effectively. For example, inputting a meter reading of -100 to see if the system rejects it.

Common mistakes

Confusing Test Data with Audit Software. Audit software is used to interrogate the client's actual data files.

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