Selecting specific items: The auditor may decide to select specific items from a population based on factors such as his/her understanding of the reporting entity (extractive company or government agency), the assessed risk of material misstatement and the characteristics of the population being tested. The items that the auditor is likely to select using this method include:
High value or key items – the assurance provider may decide to select specific items within a population because they are of high value or have some other characteristic, for example they appear suspicious, unusual, and particularly risk-prone or have a known history of error.
All items over a certain amount – the assurance provider may decide to examine all items whose values exceed a certain amount in order to verify a large proportion of the total amount of a class of transactions.
