Uniform CPA Examination, Auditing and Attestation (Core section)
CPA Exam: Auditing and Attestation (AUD)
Every area of the AUD blueprint, from engagement acceptance to reports, in plain words.
AI-drafted · awaiting expert reviewWritten for the AUD section as specified in the Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the AICPA Board of Examiners on August 18, 2025) and the revised Blueprints effective January 1, 2027 (approved September 16, 2026), which keep AUD's design, question counts, area weights and skill allocation and only revise examples in four Area III tasks. Standards are taught as eligible for testing in 2027 under the AICPA's CPA Exam Policy on New Pronouncements, including SAS No. 149 (group audits, tested from January 1, 2027), PCAOB QC 1000 (provisions not affected by the September 2026 amendments, tested from January 1, 2027), the AICPA quality management standards and the 2024 Yellow Book; SAS No. 150 (confirmations, effective for periods ending on or after December 15, 2028) is noted as upcoming only. Exam facts were verified on aicpa-cima.com and nasba.org, and standards on the AICPA, PCAOB, GAO, SEC and eCFR sites, on 9 November 2026.
A complete course for the Auditing and Attestation (AUD) Core section of the Uniform CPA Examination, organized by the four areas of the AICPA's AUD blueprint and weighted like it: ethics, professional responsibilities and general principles; assessing risk and developing a planned response; performing further procedures and obtaining evidence; and forming conclusions and reporting. Twenty-four lessons teach the rules in plain words with worked examples, journal entries and computations (materiality, sampling, analytics, misstatement evaluation, single-audit thresholds), common traps and self-checks. Wherever AICPA (nonissuer) and PCAOB (issuer) requirements differ, both are taught side by side, along with SEC, GAO Yellow Book, Department of Labor and Uniform Guidance rules. Each lesson has original practice questions with full explanations, every unit includes simulation-style case sets with typed numeric answers, and a full-length practice exam mirrors the section's 78 multiple-choice questions and 7 task-based simulations. Use it alongside the AICPA's free sample test.
About the exam
- The CPA Exam has three Core sections, Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) and Taxation and Regulation (REG), and three Discipline sections, Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC) and Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP). Every candidate takes all three Core sections and one Discipline section. Each section is four hours long.Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the Board of Examiners August 18, 2025) · CPA Exam Candidate Guide (November 2, 2026)
- AUD has 78 multiple-choice questions and 7 task-based simulations in five testlets: two testlets of 39 multiple-choice questions, then testlets of 2, 3 and 2 simulations.Learn what to study for the CPA Exam · Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the Board of Examiners August 18, 2025) · Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2027 (approved by the Board of Examiners September 16, 2026)
- AUD's content areas and weights: Area I, Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles, 15–25%; Area II, Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response, 25–35%; Area III, Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence, 30–40%; Area IV, Forming Conclusions and Reporting, 10–20%.Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the Board of Examiners August 18, 2025) · Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2027 (approved by the Board of Examiners September 16, 2026)
- AUD's skill allocation: Remembering and Understanding 30–40%, Application 30–40%, Analysis 15–25% and Evaluation 5–15%. AUD is the only section that tests the Evaluation skill level.Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the Board of Examiners August 18, 2025)
- AUD covers audits of issuers (PCAOB standards), nonissuers (AICPA standards) and governmental entities and recipients of federal awards (GAO and OMB requirements), attestation engagements, and preparation, compilation and review engagements. When requirements differ, a question names the entity type (issuer or nonissuer) and the engagement type.Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the Board of Examiners August 18, 2025)
- Scores are reported on a 0–99 scale and 75 is the minimum passing score. A score is not a percentage correct, and scores are not curved. For AUD, multiple-choice questions and task-based simulations each count for 50% of the score.Learn more about CPA Exam scoring and pass rates · Score Information · Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2026 (approved by the Board of Examiners August 18, 2025)
- Within a testlet you may answer in any order; once a testlet is submitted you cannot return to it. Every exam includes unscored pretest questions that look like the others. A standardized 15-minute break after the first simulation testlet does not count against testing time; other breaks between testlets do.Find answers to frequently asked questions about the CPA Exam · CPA Exam Candidate Guide (November 2, 2026) · CPA Exam FAQ
- Core sections, including AUD, can be scheduled year-round; Discipline sections only in the first month of each quarter. The exam moves to a new delivery platform in July 2027: there is no testing from July 1 to July 11, 2027, testing resumes July 12, and the score release schedule is adjusted for 12 months.CPA Exam FAQ · CPA Exam UI changes: What candidates need to know
- Core section scores are released on a rolling basis against target dates that depend on when the AICPA receives the exam data from Prometric; the dates are not guaranteed, and some boards need an extra day. Candidates who do not pass receive a Candidate Performance Report comparing their performance with candidates who scored 75–80.Find out when you'll get your CPA Exam score · Score Information · CPA Exam Candidate Guide (November 2, 2026)
- Under the AICPA's CPA Exam Policy on New Pronouncements, a change in an accounting or auditing pronouncement becomes eligible for testing in the later of the first calendar quarter beginning after its earliest mandatory effective date and the first calendar quarter beginning six months after its issuance. On that basis SAS No. 149 (group audits) is tested from January 1, 2027, and the Board of Examiners set January 1, 2027 for the provisions of PCAOB QC 1000 not affected by the PCAOB's September 2026 amendments.Learn what to study for the CPA Exam · Testing of QC 1000: A Firm's System of Quality Control (Board of Examiners, September 23, 2026) · AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards, currently effective (AU-C sections, current as of August 2026)
- Eligibility, fees, Notice to Schedule validity, the period for which section credit is valid, and score review and appeal options are set by each state board of accountancy and vary by jurisdiction; check your board's rules through NASBA.CPA Exam Candidate Guide (November 2, 2026) · CPA Exam FAQ · Score Information
Syllabus
24 lessons, 256 practice questions and 1 timed practice exam.
Getting Started
How the AUD section works
The CPA Exam's Core and Discipline structure, AUD's 78 multiple-choice questions and 7 task-based simulations in five testlets, the four content areas and their weights, scoring and score release, which standards are eligible for testing, and how to tell an issuer audit from a nonissuer audit in a question.
- How the AUD section worksFree sample35 min
Area I: Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles
Ethics and independence
The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and its conceptual frameworks, the AICPA independence rules, and the independence requirements of the SEC, PCAOB, GAO (Yellow Book) and Department of Labor.
- The AICPA Code of Professional ConductFree sample55 min
- AICPA independence rules(included with the course)60 min
- SEC, PCAOB, GAO and DOL independence(included with the course)60 min
Engagements, documentation and quality
Professional skepticism and judgment, the nature and scope of each kind of engagement, preconditions, engagement letters, predecessor auditors, documentation, communications with management and those charged with governance, and quality management at the firm and engagement level.
- Engagement types, acceptance and professional skepticism(included with the course)55 min
- Documentation, communication and quality management(included with the course)60 min
Area II: Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response
Planning, internal control and materiality
The overall strategy and audit plan, understanding the entity and its environment (including the economic concepts on the blueprint and the Sarbanes-Oxley governance provisions), the COSO framework, IT general controls and business processes, and materiality, performance materiality and tolerable misstatement.
- Planning and understanding the entity(included with the course)60 min
- Internal control, COSO and the IT environment(included with the course)65 min
- Materiality(included with the course)50 min
Risk assessment, fraud and the work of others
Assessing the risks of material misstatement at the financial statement and assertion levels and designing responses, fraud risk, laws and regulations, related parties, and using the work of internal auditors, specialists, component auditors, referred-to auditors and service organizations.
- Assessing and responding to the risks of material misstatement(included with the course)65 min
- Fraud, noncompliance with laws, estimates risk and related parties(included with the course)60 min
- Using the work of others and service organizations(included with the course)60 min
Area III: Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence
Evidence, data, sampling and analytics
Sufficient appropriate evidence and the kinds of audit procedures, data and audit data analytics, statistical and nonstatistical sampling, substantive analytical procedures and external confirmations.
- Audit evidence and the types of procedures(included with the course)55 min
- Data, data reliability and audit data analytics(included with the course)55 min
- Audit sampling(included with the course)70 min
- Analytical procedures and external confirmations(included with the course)65 min
Accounts, special matters and completing the audit
Substantive procedures by transaction cycle, accounting estimates, investments, inventory, litigation and going concern, and the work at the end of an audit: misstatements, control deficiencies, written representations and subsequent events.
- Substantive procedures by transaction cycle(included with the course)65 min
- Accounting estimates, investments, inventory, litigation and going concern(included with the course)70 min
- Completing the audit(included with the course)65 min
Area IV: Forming Conclusions and Reporting
Audit reports
Forming an opinion, unmodified and modified opinions, emphasis-of-matter and other-matter paragraphs, key and critical audit matters, reporting on internal control over financial reporting, and other reporting considerations such as consistency, other information, supplementary information, interim reviews and special-purpose frameworks.
- Audit reports and opinions(included with the course)70 min
- Integrated audits and other reporting considerations(included with the course)65 min
Other engagements and government audits
Preparation, compilation and review engagements under the SSARSs; examinations, reviews and agreed-upon procedures under the SSAEs; and audits under Government Auditing Standards and the Uniform Guidance, including single audits.
- Preparation, compilation and review engagements(included with the course)60 min
- Attestation engagements(included with the course)60 min
- Government auditing standards and single audits(included with the course)70 min
Practice exams
- AUD Practice Exam 1 (full length)116 questions · 240 minutesIncluded with the course
Free official resources
Use these alongside the course. They are free, and they are the final word.
- CPA Exam sample testsThe AICPA's free sample tests for every section, in the exam software, with up to two hours each. They are unscored and their content is current as of July 1, 2023, so use them to learn the interface, tools and simulation formats rather than to judge readiness.
- Learn what to study for the CPA Exam (Exam Blueprints)Download the 2026 and 2027 Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints and the summary of 2027 changes, read the CPA Exam Policy on New Pronouncements, and see the AICPA's retired AUD task-based simulation. Read the AUD section introduction and the representative tasks for each area.
- CPA Exam scoringHow the AICPA scores sections and weights multiple-choice questions and simulations.
- CPA Exam score release datesTarget score release dates for Core and Discipline sections, including the adjusted schedule after the July 2027 platform change.
- NASBA CPA Exam Candidate GuideApplying, the Notice to Schedule, test-day rules, breaks, score release and retakes. Credit periods and other requirements vary by jurisdiction; NASBA's site links to each board.
- NASBA CPA Exam FAQ and score informationScheduling windows, credit rules by jurisdiction and score review and appeal options.
- AICPA auditing, attestation, SSARS and quality management standardsThe currently effective AU-C sections for audits of nonissuers; the AT-C (attestation), AR-C (SSARS) and QM (quality management) sections have their own currently-effective pages on the same site. Downloads may require signing in to an AICPA & CIMA account.
- PCAOB auditing standardsThe standards for audits of issuers, including AS 2201, AS 2310 and AS 3101, with effective-date versions.
- Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book), 2024 revisionGAO's standards for audits of governments and recipients of government awards; free and public domain.
- Uniform Guidance audit requirements (2 CFR 200, Subpart F)The single audit rules: the $1,000,000 threshold, major program determination, reports and audit findings.
- SEC auditor independence rule (17 CFR 210.2-01)The SEC's independence requirements for auditors of issuers.
- COSO Internal Control — Integrated FrameworkCOSO's page for the framework the blueprint names, with its executive summary.
Lumenary Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the AICPA, NASBA or any state board of accountancy. Only a state board of accountancy grants the CPA license. The AICPA's blueprints and standards, and the FASB's, GASB's, PCAOB's and COSO's materials, are copyrighted: this course explains them in its own words and links to the official text. Every source this course cites.