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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Audit and Assurance (International) · Audit-related and assurance services

Halden & Partners is asked to provide assurance on a company's customer satisfaction index. The company proposes using criteria that it will define after the work is complete, depending on the results obtained. Which required characteristic of an assurance engagement is most clearly absent?

Suitable criteria are missing. Criteria must be relevant, complete, reliable, neutral and understandable, and be available to users. Defining them after the results are known undermines reliability and neutrality, so the engagement cannot be accepted as an assurance engagement on that basis.

  1. AA three-party relationship
  2. BSuitable criteriaCorrect
  3. CAn appropriate subject matter
  4. DA written assurance report

Explanation

Criteria must be suitable, meaning relevant, complete, reliable, neutral and understandable, and available to users. Criteria chosen after the results are known are not objective or reliable and could bias the outcome. The other elements are not shown to be missing.

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