General Comments

　　Despite covering some core syllabus areas，this paper proved challenging for many candidates. Overall performance continues to be unsatisfactory. Many candidates did not demonstrate awareness of the International Audit and Assurance Standards Board’s （IAASB）Clarified ISAs，and generally the display of knowledge and application of that knowledge to the question scenarios provided was not at the standard expected in the final Professional Level examination.

　　The examination comprised two compulsory questions in Section A，and three questions in Section B of which two should be attempted. Both Section A questions were based on a case study，and contained several requirements covering different syllabus areas.

　　Each optional 20 mark question in Section B included a short scenario，and several requirements. Of the section B questions，question 4 the most popular，and roughly the same proportion of candidates attempted Question 3 and Question 5.

　　The vast majority of candidates attempted the correct number of questions，and there was less evidence of time pressure than seen in previous sessions.

　　The factors contributing to the poor pass rate for this sitting include：

　　Failing to answer the specific question requirements

　　Not applying knowledge to question scenarios

　　Making too few comments given the mark allocation of a requirement

　　Lack of knowledge on certain syllabus areas

　　Illegible handwriting.

　　The rest of this report contains a discussion of each question，highlighting the requirements that were answered well，and the areas that need improvement.

　　Specific Comments

　　Question One

　　This question was for 36 marks，and focussed on the planning of a group audit engagement. Requirements related to an evaluation of audit risk，reliance on the work of a component auditor，and audit procedures with respect to investments in associates and a grant received.

　　Overall performance on this question varied considerably. Candidates who answered the specific question requirements scored well. However，despite the requirements of（a）and （c）covering familiar issues seen in many previous papers，a significant proportion of candidates did not answer the specific question requirements，leading to largely irrelevant answers scoring very few marks.