How To Pass The CPA Exam: The IPassTheCPAExam.com Guide for International Candidates

CHAPTER 10

Audit and Attestation (AUD)

The CPA, after all, is a qualification for Certified Public Accountant. It should not come as a surprise that examiners are looking for advanced (and working) knowledge of a public accountant’s classic job—audit and attestation (AUD).

What Does AUD Cover?

Here is the examination specification released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA):

• Engagement acceptance and understanding the assignment (12 to 16 percent).
• Understanding the entity and its environment (16 to 20 percent).
• Performing audit procedures and evaluating evidence (16 to 20 percent).
• Evaluating audit findings, communications, and reporting (16 to 20 percent).
• Accounting and review services engagements (12 to 16 percent).
• Professional responsibilities (16 to 20 percent).

This is a four-hour examination, with three testlets each containing 30 multiple-choice questions, and one testlet containing seven task-based simulation (TBS) questions. Multiple-choice represents 50 to 60 percent of the score with TBS representing the rest. The multiple-choice questions are adaptive but the TBSs are not.

Pass Rate History and Trend

The CPA exam pass rate for the AUD section is more or less the same as the rest: It hovers around 50 percent in recent years (Figure 10.1). Although the CPA exam pass rate has been steadily increasing over the years, it seems to have gone down since the next exam format was introduced in 2011.

Figure 10.1 AUD Exam Passing Rate Trend, ...