According to IIA guidance, which of the following best demonstrates due professional care?

Question

Options

• AStaffing audit engagements with internal auditors who possess professional designations.
• BRelying on prior audit work to save planning time and costs.
• CPerforming assurance procedures to guarantee all significant risks are identified.
• DAssessing the cost of assurance in relation to the potential benefits.

• A
  7% (3)
• B
  12% (5)
• C
  2% (1)
• D
  79% (33)

Explanation

Assessing cost versus benefit (D) is the textbook definition of due professional care under IIA Standard 1220, which explicitly states that internal auditors must consider "the cost of assurance in relation to potential benefits" - recognizing that audit resources are finite and must be deployed wisely.

Why the distractors fail:

• A is wrong because holding a professional designation speaks to qualifications, not the exercise of care during an engagement - you can have credentials and still cut corners.
• B is wrong because uncritically relying on prior work without reassessing current conditions actually undermines due care; prior audits may be stale or may not reflect changed risks.
• C is wrong because IIA standards explicitly state that due professional care does not imply infallibility - auditors provide reasonable assurance, never a guarantee that all risks are found.

Memory tip: Anchor on the phrase "reasonably prudent" - due care is the standard of a thoughtful auditor working within real constraints, not a superhuman guaranteeing perfection. Whenever a choice says "guarantee" or "all," it's almost certainly wrong on IIA exams, because internal audit deals in reasonable assurance, not certainty.

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