SOCPA Fellowship Auditing Exam Content: The 10 Topics, Their Weights and the Standards

Last verified: 31 October 2026. Topics and weights can change, so check the Fellowship exam page on the SOCPA website and the exam topics document before you start studying. This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) or any government body.

Auditing is one of six Fellowship subjects. Its source is published international standards, not local laws: the international standards on auditing, review, assurance and related services (ISA, ISRE, ISAE, ISRS), the quality management standards (ISQM) and the International Code of Ethics. So whoever studies from the text itself, or from a book built on it, studies the right subject. Most questions are short cases that ask what the auditor does, what type of report results, or which standard applies.

Two parts in one day

The structure is set out in SOCPA's amendments to the structure and weights of the Fellowship exams (pages 4, 5 and 7). SOCPA changed other subjects in 2025 and left auditing as it was. The question bank and practice test on this site cover Part 1 only (90 questions, same time limit). Registration, fees and dates are in the registration guide.

The ten topics and their weights

In its Fellowship exam topics document (pages 10 to 14 for auditing) SOCPA publishes a minimum and a maximum share for each topic. The table shows the approximate number of questions per topic out of 90, taking the midpoint of each range.

The first four topics by size (evidence, opinion and report, general objectives, planning) take about 51 questions of 90, more than half the multiple-choice part. Add ethics and quality management and six topics cover 68 questions.

What each topic covers

Topic 1: International framework for assurance engagements (about 4 questions)

The nature and types of assurance engagement: reasonable and limited assurance, attestation engagements (where the information comes from the responsible party) and direct engagements. The three parties: practitioner, responsible party and intended user. The five elements: the three-party relationship, the underlying subject matter, suitable criteria, evidence and the report. Then the preconditions for accepting an engagement. Short questions that rest on exact terminology.

Topic 2: Overall objectives, principles and general responsibilities (about 11 questions)

Seven standards that form the foundation of the profession. ISA 200: reasonable assurance, professional scepticism, professional judgement, audit risk and inherent limitations. ISA 210: engagement terms, the engagement letter and changes in terms. ISA 220 (Revised): the engagement partner's responsibility for quality. ISA 230: documentation, which an experienced auditor with no connection to the engagement must be able to understand. ISA 240: fraud, the fraud triangle, management override and the presumed risk in revenue recognition. ISA 250: consideration of laws and regulations. ISA 260 and ISA 265: communication with those charged with governance and reporting significant deficiencies.

Topic 3: Planning (about 11 questions)

ISA 300: the overall strategy, the audit plan and initial audit engagements. ISA 315 (Revised 2019): understanding the entity and its environment, the five components of internal control, inherent risk factors, significant risks and IT general controls. ISA 320: overall materiality, performance materiality, the benchmark and revising them. ISA 330: overall responses and further procedures, tests of controls and substantive procedures. ISA 402: service organization reports (type 1 and type 2). Then using the work of others: group component auditors (ISA 600 Revised), internal audit (ISA 610) and the auditor's expert (ISA 620).

Topic 4: Audit evidence (about 17 questions, the largest topic)

Ten standards in one topic. ISA 500: sufficient appropriate evidence, its reliability and the types of procedure (inspection, observation, confirmation, recalculation, reperformance, inquiry and analytical procedures). ISA 501: attending inventory counts, litigation and segment information. ISA 505: positive and negative confirmations. ISA 510: opening balances. ISA 520: substantive analytical procedures and the overall review. ISA 530: sampling and sampling risk. ISA 540 (Revised): accounting estimates, estimation uncertainty and management bias. ISA 550: related parties. ISA 560: subsequent events. ISA 570: going concern. ISA 580: written representations.

Topic 5: Forming an opinion and the auditor's report (about 12 questions)

ISA 700 (Revised): the elements of the report and their order. ISA 701: key audit matters. ISA 705 (Revised): qualified and adverse opinions and disclaimers, and the matrix for choosing between them. ISA 706 (Revised): emphasis of matter and other matter paragraphs. ISA 710: comparative information. ISA 720 (Revised): other information. ISA 450: evaluating identified misstatements. And ISA 800, ISA 805 and ISA 810: special purpose frameworks, single financial statements and summary financial statements. This topic rewards anyone who memorises the matrices: which opinion and why, which paragraph and where.

Topic 6: Review engagements (about 6 questions)

ISRE 2400 (Revised): a review of historical financial statements by a practitioner who is not the entity's auditor. ISRE 2410: a review of interim financial information by the entity's independent auditor. Both give limited assurance, the conclusion is in negative form («nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe...») and the procedures are mainly inquiry and analytical procedures.

Topic 7: Other assurance engagements (about 7 questions)

ISAE 3000 (Revised): engagements that are neither audits nor reviews of historical financial information. ISAE 3400: examination of prospective financial information. ISAE 3402: reports on controls at a service organization (type 1 and type 2). ISAE 3410: greenhouse gas statements. ISAE 3420: compiling pro forma financial information in a prospectus. The questions are basic: when the standard applies and what the report looks like. The IAASB decided in March 2025 to withdraw ISAE 3410 once ISSA 5000 takes effect, so do not go deep on it.

Topic 8: Related services engagements (about 5 questions)

ISRS 4400 (Revised): agreed-upon procedures, where the practitioner gives no assurance and reports what was found. ISRS 4410 (Revised): compilation engagements. The syllabus also lists forensic accounting services, where the questions ask for the basic concepts and how it differs from an assurance engagement.

Topic 9: Quality management for firms (about 8 questions)

ISQM 1: the eight components of a quality management system (the risk assessment process, governance and leadership, relevant ethical requirements, acceptance and continuance of client relationships, engagement performance, resources, information and communication, and the monitoring and remediation process) and the annual evaluation. ISQM 2: engagement quality reviews, reviewer eligibility, and the two-year cooling-off period for someone who was the engagement partner before becoming the reviewer.

Topic 10: International Code of Ethics (about 9 questions)

Part 1: the five fundamental principles (integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, professional behaviour), the five categories of threat, the conceptual framework and the reasonable and informed third party test. Part 2: accountants in business. Part 3: accountants in public practice (client acceptance, second opinions, fees). Part 4A: independence for audits and reviews (financial interests, loans, business and family relationships, rotation, non-assurance services, fee dependency). Part 4B: independence for other assurance engagements. The site follows the IESBA Code, 2024 edition.

Standard versions: which text do you study?

SOCPA endorsed the international standards on auditing, review, assurance and related services in an endorsement document dated 11 October 2022. It did not change the requirements of the standards. It added footnotes and definitions for the Saudi legal environment (next section). The question bank here is built on the IAASB 2023–2024 Handbook (SOCPA published the Arabic translation) and the 2024 IESBA Code. What matters about versions:

• In force for some time: ISA 315 (Revised 2019) and ISA 540 (Revised) since December 2021, ISQM 1, ISQM 2 and ISA 220 (Revised) since December 2022, and ISA 600 (Revised) for periods beginning in December 2023. Study these versions, not the old ones: anyone who memorised the old ISA 315 or ISA 220 will get answers wrong.
• Revisions not yet in force: the revised ISA 570 (going concern) and ISA 240 (fraud) apply to periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026. The questions here use the current text of both, so if you read from a recent edition, watch what differs.
• ISAE 3410: questions cover the basic concepts only, for the reason given under topic 7.

What SOCPA added to the international standards

The additions are footnotes and definitions, and their questions are easy for anyone who knows them:

• Opinion wording: the auditor uses «present fairly» rather than «give a true and fair view» wherever it appears.
• Relevant ethical requirements: this means the International Code of Ethics as endorsed in Saudi Arabia.
• The report (ISA 700): an example of other legal and regulatory requirements is Article 20(5) of the Companies Law, under which the auditor includes in his report what comes to his attention, within his competence, about violations of the Companies Law, the memorandum of association or the articles of association. For listed entities, Article 7 of the Accounting and Auditing Profession Law requires the report to be signed in the name of the partner.
• ISA 230: Article 7 of the Accounting and Auditing Profession Law obliges the chartered accountant to keep working papers and copies of reports and statements for at least ten years from the date of his report, while the international standard itself speaks of a retention period ordinarily no shorter than five years.
• ISA 330: for this standard the «interim period» is the period in which the auditor performs some audit work before the end of the financial year, so that it is not confused with the same term in accounting standards.
• Management and those charged with governance: «management» is the body responsible under a law or regulation for preparing the financial statements and their contents, and the auditor states in the report who those charged with governance are, in accordance with ISA 260.

The essay part

Four questions in 120 minutes, about 30 minutes each on average, and some ask for three or more points. The questions in SOCPA's simulated auditing questions, published in September 2025 (40 multiple-choice and 4 essay questions, with answers), show four patterns:

• Explain how the internal auditor's work affects the external auditor's work and how the external auditor takes it into account.
• Choose between two ways of gathering evidence in independent cases and name the stronger one (an external confirmation against the client's own statement, for example).
• Match presentation and disclosure objectives to management assertions.
• A table of short cases, each asking for at least three procedures or considerations (the finance director's absence, a limit on access to assets held abroad, management objecting to an item in its written representations).

The minimum is 5 of 25, so do not leave an essay question blank. Try SOCPA's simulated questions yourself and write your answers before you read the model answers. The question bank on this site does not cover the essay part, and this guide does not reproduce SOCPA's questions.

How the questions are asked

• A short case and a question: what does the auditor do, which opinion is issued, which threat to independence arises?
• Questions that separate two close standards (ISRE 2400 and ISRE 2410, materiality and performance materiality, a qualified and an adverse opinion).
• Questions on memorised numbers: rotation periods, cooling-off periods and the days allowed to assemble the file.
• The wording may come in Arabic or English, so learn each term in both languages. Note that SOCPA translates audit as «مراجعة», not «تدقيق», and this site does the same.

What to do after reading this guide

• See where you stand now with the 10 free questions, no sign-up: you see your score and your weakest topics.
• Plan your time by weight in the study plan.
• Register from the registration guide: registration for the 22 December 2026 sitting opens on 5 November.

This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with SOCPA, the IAASB or any government body.