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Governance, Risk, Audit & Privacy · Foundational

Substantive Testing

Audit testing that examines the integrity of actual data, balances, or transactions to detect material errors.

Definition

Substantive tests directly verify outcomes, such as recalculating interest or confirming inventory counts. They are increased when controls are weak. Variable sampling is used to estimate monetary values.

Example

An auditor reconciles the number of licensed software seats with installed instances.

Exam tip

Weak controls lead to more substantive testing.

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