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Governance, Risk, Audit & Privacy · Intermediate

Professional Skepticism

Attitude of a questioning mind and critical assessment of audit evidence.

Definition

Professional skepticism means auditors neither assume management is dishonest nor assume unquestioned honesty. They corroborate representations with evidence and stay alert to indicators of fraud or error.

Example

An auditor verifies a manager's claim of quarterly access reviews by inspecting the signed review records.

Exam tip

Oral representations must be corroborated; they are the weakest form of evidence.

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