Opinions and reports
The Opinion Matrix
Cause times pervasiveness picks the opinion: misstatement or scope, material or pervasive.
How the exam words it
- -The stem describes a misstatement or a scope limitation and asks which opinion to issue.
- -It signals whether the issue is material-but-not-pervasive or material-and-pervasive.
- -Multiple issues combine, or it gives an opinion and asks which scenario fits.
The playbook
- 1Identify the cause: a known misstatement (a GAAP departure) or a scope limitation (cannot get evidence).
- 2Judge pervasiveness: confined to one area is not pervasive, spread across the statements is pervasive.
- 3Misstatement gives qualified (not pervasive) or adverse (pervasive), scope limitation gives qualified (not pervasive) or disclaimer (pervasive).
The trap
Swapping the pervasive cases: adverse is for a pervasive misstatement, disclaimer is for a pervasive scope limitation.
How the exam varies it
The same pattern, re-skinned along these axes:
Misstatement versus scope limitationMaterial-but-not-pervasive versus pervasiveSingle issue, combined issues, or the reverse (given the opinion, find the scenario)
Drill this pattern
8 questions of The Opinion Matrix from across the AUD topics. Clear it by getting 5 right with a streak of 3.