Judgement Sampling
Definition
Selection of audit items based on the auditor's professional assessment of where errors or weaknesses are most likely to exist. Results cannot be statistically projected to the full population but are useful for targeted testing of high-risk areas or small populations.
- Basis
- Auditor's professional judgement
- Statistical projection
- Not valid to the full population
- Best suited to
- High-risk areas or small populations
Common questions
Why can't judgement sampling results be projected to the whole population?+
Items are not selected with a known, equal probability, so there is no statistical basis for extrapolating an error rate found in the sample onto the population it was drawn from.
When would an auditor choose judgement sampling over statistical sampling?+
When the population is too small for meaningful statistical sampling, or when specific risk indicators point to particular transactions worth examining regardless of how representative they are.
Related terms
- Attribute Sampling
- A statistical sampling method that tests whether each selected item either has or lacks a specified attribute, for example whether a change...
- Confidence Level
- An explicit label attached to an attribution assessment indicating how strongly the available evidence supports the conclusion. Standard tiers are low, medium,...
- Tolerable Deviation Rate
- The maximum error rate the auditor is willing to accept in the population without modifying the audit conclusion. If the projected error...
- Upper Error Limit (UEL)
- The maximum error rate that could exist in the population at the chosen confidence level, given the number of exceptions found in...
- Working Paper
- The documented record of an audit procedure: what was tested, how items were selected, the evidence obtained, any exceptions found, and the...