In: Finance
Differentiate between representative and non-representative testing. What client actors determine which is most appropriate in planning audit procedures?
In representative testing the goal is to be able to accurately extrapolate the results to the entire population. In non-representative testing the goal is something else, e.g., looking for fraud in particular population units. Client factors include the size of the population in question, the nature of the account (cash is normally tested 100%), and the quality of the client’s record keeping x the auditor needs to be reasonably confident that the records are complete in order to plan a representative sample.