Ace Your Audit! 2025 ICAEW Assurance Practice Test – Boost Your Business Brilliance!

Incorporating more unpredictability into audit procedures is a suggested response to risks identified during audit procedures because it enhances the auditor's ability to detect material misstatements. By introducing unpredictable elements into the audit process, auditors can avoid complacency and ensure that the audit remains effective against potential fraud and error.

Unpredictability can take many forms, such as varying the timing of procedures, selecting different sample sizes, or altering the nature and extent of audit tests. This approach not only makes it less likely for entities being audited to anticipate the auditor's actions, thereby potentially uncovering hidden issues, but also maintains the overall integrity of the audit process in response to identified risks.

Other strategies like reducing staff engagement or avoiding the use of external experts could impair the quality of the audit by limiting resources and expertise, while setting fixed audit strategies may lead to a lack of responsiveness to the specific risks presented in different audit contexts. Therefore, embracing unpredictability is a straightforward and effective method to address and mitigate identified risks during the audit.