本文概括了考生在F8和P7中必须写出正确审计程序的细节的重要性。
August 2017
在F8和P7中一个最常见的问题就是建议执行适当的审计程序。在这两门考试中，都会给出一个情形，其中会有一个或者多个特殊的问题，审计程序也应该集中在这些问题上。
F8和P7的考官都评论说，考生都喜欢机械的、死记硬背的把审计程序全部罗列出来，而不是根据案例情形中给出的问题去具体分析，所以这样机械的罗列是没有分数的。
2016年9月的考官报告有一段写到：“考生必须努力地去理解这个实证性程序，机械的背诵是不能换来考试的成功的——程序必须应用到特定的问题情形中去。”这段话在2016年12月的考官报告里又出现了一次。
要获得好成绩，学生必须能够建议与被测试的问题或平衡相关的审计程序。此外，程序必须正确描述如何获得审计证据以及是为了什么。
2016年9月F8的考试中就有这么一个案例：
Trade payables
The finance director of Spider Spirals Co has informed you that at the year-end the purchase ledger was kept open for one week longer than normal as a large bank transfer and cheque payment run was made on 3 November 20X6.Some purchase invoices were received in this week and were recorded in the 20X6 purchase ledger as well as the payment run made on 3 November.The client’s financial year ended on 31 October 20X6.
这个问题就是要求考生描述审计师应该履行的实质性程序，以获得与此相关的充分和适当的审计证据。
在这种情况下，这个问题涉及截止应交税款。因此，审计程序应着重于截止测试的认定，确保会计记录都归属于正确的期间。
答案如下：
•Select a sample of purchase invoices received between the period of 1 and 7 November,ascertain through reviewing goods received notes（GRNs）if the goods were received pre or post year end,if post year end,then confirm that they have been excluded from the ledger or follow through to the correcting journal entry.
•Review after date payments;if they relate to the current year then follow through to the purchase ledger or accrual listing to ensure they are recorded in the correct period.
•Obtain supplier statements and reconcile these to the purchase ledger balances,and investigate any reconciling items.
和应收账款相关的一般审计程序，以及认定层次的测试和本题并不相关，因为没有针对于题目的具体的事项。
类似的，针对于测试Purchases的审计程序同样不相关。题目材料的标题‘Trade Payable’已经很明确的写明考察范围，因此考官要求的应付账款科目对应的审计程序而不是Purchase账户所使用的审计程序，Purchases是在全年都不断发生交易的科目。Payables账户是年末尚未支付的科目余额。因此，为了检测年末的应收账款金额，考生必须关注与在年末发生的交易事项是否还有尚未支付款项。
在2016年3月和6月F8的考试中也有类似的问题：
An extensive refurbishment that a client had carried out to its restaurants.The refurbishment was financed via a share issue at a premium of$1.6 million.The requirement asked for substantive procedures in respect of:
（i）Property,plant and equipment
（ii）Equity
In（i），relevant procedures would focus on testing the additions of new assets and disposal of the old assets.Any procedures that test existing assets are not relevant as these do not form part of the refurbishment.
In（ii），relevant procedures would focus on the share issue such as confirming the receipt of cash to the bank statements and recalculating the split between ordinary share capital and share premium to be included in the financial statements.Any procedures which once gain focus on the refurbishment itself are not relevant as these were required in part（i）。
总结：
审计程序是审计过程中至关重要的一部分，因为需要获取足够、正确的审计证据来完成在财务报表上的结论。这个在每个审计的考试中都会考到。在F8和P7这两个不同阶段的审计考试中都要求把这个知识点应用到实际案例情形中。所以，最重要的是，考生要有能力去建议与案例情形相关的审计程序，而不是机械把课本上的东西搬到试卷上。
•Paula McGrath,F8 and P7 Content Specialist,Kaplan Publishing