What does tests of details mean on the CPA exam?
Tests of details. Substantive procedures aimed at individual transactions, balances or disclosures, rather than at the relationships between numbers that analytical procedures examine.
Defined against AU-C 330.18.
Which CPA exam sections use tests of details?
Tests of details appears in the AUD section of the CPA exam.
Other terms defined against AU-C 330
- dual-purpose test: One procedure that tests a control and substantively tests the transaction at the same time, on the same sample.
- further audit procedures: The work done in response to assessed risk: tests of controls and substantive procedures.
- nature, timing, and extent: The three dials on any audit procedure: what kind of test, when it is run, and how much of the population it covers.
- operating effectiveness: Whether a control actually worked across the period, as opposed to whether it was well designed.
- selecting specific items: Choosing particular items to examine because of what they are, such as large or unusual ones, rather than at random.
- substantive procedures: Work aimed directly at detecting misstatement in a balance or disclosure, as opposed to testing whether a control operated.
- tests of controls: Procedures that check whether a control actually operated as described throughout the period.
Related terms
- analytical procedures: Evaluations of financial information by studying plausible relationships among financial and nonfinancial data.
- audit procedures: The specific work performed: inspection, observation, inquiry, confirmation, recalculation, reperformance and analytical procedures.
- risk assessment procedures: The audit procedures designed and performed to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement at the financial statement and assertion levels.