Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021C01255:body:0:p14
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021C01255
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 38026–39908

the auditor would need to determine that sampling units within the population are not structured in such a way that the sampling interval corresponds with a particular pattern in the population.

    (c)                Monetary Unit Sampling is a type of value-weighted selection (as described in Appendix 1) in which sample size, selection and evaluation results in a conclusion in monetary amounts.

    (d)               Haphazard selection, in which the auditor selects the sample without following a structured technique.  Although no structured technique is used, the auditor would nonetheless avoid any conscious bias or predictability (for example, avoiding difficult to locate items, or always choosing or avoiding the first or last entries on a page) and thus attempt to ensure that all items in the population have a chance of selection.  Haphazard selection is not appropriate when using statistical sampling.

    (e)                Block selection involves selection of a block(s) of contiguous items from within the population.  Block selection cannot ordinarily be used in audit sampling because most populations are structured such that items in a sequence can be expected to have similar characteristics to each other, but different characteristics from items elsewhere in the population.  Although in some circumstances it may be an appropriate audit procedure to examine a block of items, it would rarely be an appropriate sample selection technique when the auditor intends to draw valid inferences about the entire population based on the sample.
[*]  Early adoption, in conjunction with ASA 315 Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement, permitted.
  [1]  See ASA 500 Audit Evidence.
  [2]  See ASA 320 Materiality in Planning and Performing an Audit, paragraph 9.
  [3]  See ASA 330 The Auditor's Responses to Assessed Risks, paragraph 17.