Paper Prediction - Most Expected Topics for CA Final Audit Nov'26 | 6 Attempts Analysis | AIR 5, 6

Summary

The video presents a trend-based shortlist of likely CA Final Audit topics for the November 2026 attempt, based on the presenter’s review of questions from the previous six ICAI attempts. It is intended as a revision and prioritisation aid—not as a guarantee or a substitute for studying the full syllabus.

Study strategy and cautions

• Do not treat “most expected topics” as a prediction of the exact paper. The presenter stresses that ICAI’s paper is unpredictable and that any topic may be tested.
• Use the shortlist to prioritise revision, especially if time is limited:
  1. Complete your ABC analysis first.
  2. Give greatest priority to A-category topics, then B, then C.
  3. Revise selected topics carefully rather than merely reading a long list.
• The presenter estimates the shortlist covers roughly 50–60% of the syllabus. For a student with about 15 days left, he suggests aiming to make a substantial portion of the syllabus—roughly 60–70%—strong, rather than attempting superficial 100% coverage.
• These are calculated risks based on past-paper trends. Students should not abandon entire chapters solely because they are absent from the shortlist.

Expected topics by area

Auditing Standards

SQC 1 and SA 220

• Differences between SQC 1 and SA 220.
• Leadership responsibility for audit quality.
• Client acceptance and continuance, including client integrity and the firm’s capabilities, competence, time and resources.
• Human resources and engagement performance.
• Consultation and engagement quality reviews (EQCR), including:
  • Matters to consider.
  • Listed entities.
  • The engagement partner’s responsibilities.
  • Objective evaluation of significant judgments.
• Engagement-partner documentation and differences of opinion.

SA 200, 210 and 230

• Inherent limitations of an audit and difficulties in detecting material misstatements.
• Preconditions for an audit and what to do when they are absent or a scope limitation exists.
• Changes to engagement terms: when to accept or reject them, including recurring audits.
• Timely audit documentation, assembly of the final audit file and ownership of documentation.

SA 240 and SA 250

• Auditor responsibilities relating to fraud, including management-level and employee-level fraud.
• Management override of controls, including related risk-assessment procedures and responses.
• Written representations; communications with management, those charged with governance and regulatory authorities; evaluation of evidence; and documentation.
• Fraud risk factors, especially attitude and rationalisation.
• Responsibilities and audit procedures concerning non-compliance with laws and regulations, including reporting identified or suspected non-compliance.
• NOCLAR: introductory points, relevant facts and steps for responding.

SA 260, 265 and 299

• Significant difficulties and significant matters discussed with management; additional reporting matters; and auditor independence communications.
• Deficiencies and significant deficiencies in internal control, and how to communicate them.
• Joint-audit planning, joint and several liability, each joint auditor’s individual responsibilities and reporting by joint auditors.

SA 300, 315, 320 and 330

• Benefits and continuous nature of audit planning.
• Factors affecting audit strategy, changes to planning decisions and revisions to audit programmes.
• Assertions and risks requiring special audit consideration.
• Benchmarks for materiality, and revision or reassessment of materiality as the audit progresses.
• Tests of controls and substantive procedures.

SA 402, 450 and 500

• Service organisations:
  • Type 1 versus Type 2 reports.
  • Understanding the service organisation and its services.
  • Tests of controls.
  • User-auditor reporting.
• Types of misstatements, communicating and correcting them, written representations and documentation.
• Audit evidence: sufficiency and appropriateness; inquiry and other evidence-gathering procedures; selection of items and specific items; and inconsistencies or doubts about evidence reliability.

SA 501, 505, 510 and 520

• Inventory evidence when attendance at the count is impossible or impracticable, inventory held by a third party and related procedures.
• Litigation and claims: communications with external parties and legal counsel.
• Positive and negative external confirmations, and management refusal to permit confirmation requests.
• Opening balances, predecessor-auditor report modifications, consistency of accounting policies and auditor reporting.
• Reliability of data used in analytical procedures; investigating results and performing substantive analytical procedures.

SA 530 and 540

• Sampling and non-sampling risks, factors affecting sample size, sample-selection methods and projecting misstatements.
• Accounting estimates and related disclosures, including risk assessment, procedures, prior-period estimates and presentation in the financial statements.

SA 550, 560, 570 and 580

• Related-party definitions, control and significant influence, discussions about related parties, and significant transactions outside the normal course of business.
• Subsequent events: procedures between the financial-statement date and auditor’s-report date, inquiries and actions when management does not amend the statements.
• Going concern: responsibilities, risk assessment, evaluating management’s assessment, additional procedures and disclosures; reporting where going-concern use is inappropriate or a material uncertainty is not adequately disclosed.
• Written representations: management responsibilities, dates, reliability and what to do when representations are not provided.

SA 600, 610 and 620

• Group audits: acceptance, division of responsibility, coordination with component auditors and reporting considerations.
• Using the work of internal auditors: evaluating the function’s nature and scope, objectivity threats, whether and when to use its work, and limits on direct assistance.
• Using an auditor’s expert: deciding whether to use an expert, evaluating management’s expert, assessing the work and agreement, further procedures if the work is inadequate, and reference to the expert in the audit report.

SA 700, 701, 705 and 706

• The opinion section and basic elements of the auditor’s report, including draft paragraphs, responsibilities, report dating and distribution.
• References to other auditing standards and supplementary information presented with financial statements.
• Key Audit Matters (KAM):
  • Applicability and scope.
  • Cases where KAMs are not communicated.
  • Disclosures outside the financial statements.
  • Circumstances when communicating a KAM is inappropriate.
• Modified opinions: when to issue a qualified, adverse or disclaimer opinion; the decision framework when sufficient appropriate evidence is unavailable; basis-for-opinion paragraphs and related draft wording.
• The presenter also flags a SEBI-related 45-day limit.
• Emphasis of Matter paragraphs: when they are used, examples, conditions and why they do not replace a modified opinion.

SA 710, 720 and special-purpose reporting standards

• SA 710: Corresponding figures, comparative financial statements, common reporting considerations and unaudited prior-period statements.
• SA 720: Reading and considering other information, and responding to material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements.
• SA 800: Special-purpose frameworks, acceptance and planning, alerting readers to the framework, and restrictions on distribution or use.
• SA 805: Accepting engagements on single financial statements or specific elements, fair-presentation considerations, references to reports on complete financial statements and reporting when the auditor is the same.
• SA 810: Acceptance and management agreement, prescribed forms of opinion, restrictions on use, comparatives, modified opinions, unaudited supplementary information, other information, timing and auditor association.

Review, assurance and related services

• SRE 2400: Audit versus review and their objectives; ethical requirements; acceptance; materiality; inquiry and analytical procedures; procedures for specific circumstances; additional procedures; subsequent events; written representations; inability to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence; and documentation.
• SRE 2410: Understanding the entity and its environment, inquiries, responsibilities for accompanying information, communications with management and those charged with governance, departures from the reporting framework and scope limitations.
• SA 3400 (prospective financial information): Forecasts and projections, association with prospective information, precautions before accepting an engagement, report wording and disclosures, and circumstances requiring a modified opinion or withdrawal.
• SA 3402: Acceptance and changes in engagement terms, written representations, elements of the service-organisation statement, additional reporting, modified opinions and documentation.
• SA 3420: Significance and compilation of pro forma financial information, acceptance, practitioner responsibilities, written representations and opinion types.
• SRS 4400: Agreed-upon procedures, examples, objectives, general principles, documentation and report wording that prevents misunderstanding.
• SRS 4410: Compilation scope, ethical requirements, communications with management and those charged with governance, engagement-level quality control, performance of the engagement and reporting elements.

Professional Ethics

• Fundamental principles: integrity, objectivity, confidentiality and professional behaviour.
• Threats to compliance and safeguards.
• ICAI membership matters, including disabilities and restoration of membership; relevant provisions concerning certificates of practice, use of designations and branch offices; members deemed to be in practice; and Section 144.
• First Schedule topics flagged include selected clauses and issues involving profit-sharing, goodwill, empanelment, client communications and invitations, independence in representations, accepting a friend’s or client’s work, firm websites and names, professional advertising or media appearances, public announcements, attestation work and certain transactions.
• Second Schedule: selected clauses relating to professional misconduct.
• Council guidelines and ethical standards, including selected chapters, networking, self-regulatory or recommendatory measures, recent decisions and a cooperative-bank-related point.

CARO 2020 and company audit

• Selected CARO 2020 clauses: clause 1, part of clause 2, and clauses 5–10 and 12–16 and 18–20.
• Company audit: Section 143(1) duty to inquire and the broader auditor-reporting duties under Section 143.

Sustainability, group audits and public-sector audits

• Sustainability reporting: Benefits and selected capitals of integrated reporting—financial, intellectual, natural and social.
• BRSR: Sections, methodology, assurance and selected principles, particularly Principles 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9.
• Group audits: Selected exemptions and AS-company examples; parent and holding-company responsibility for consolidated financial statements; auditor objectives; written representations; materiality; completeness of components; differing reporting periods; consolidation adjustments; disclosures; and reporting where frameworks differ or component statements are unaudited.
• Public-sector audits: Government-company audits, audit-report actions and committees, the CAG’s role, and basic elements of PSU audit reporting.
• Performance audit: The Triple E framework, especially effectiveness, and the steps for planning a performance audit.

Bank and NBFC audits

Bank audit

• Audit Planning Memorandum and the stages of audit execution.
• Internal controls over loans and advances, cash, credit-card operations and clearing.
• CRR and SLR requirements, including what is included or excluded.
• Special-purpose investment certificates and audit evidence.
• Evaluating controls and substantive audit procedures for advances.
• Asset classification, regularisation of accounts, consortium advances, drawing power, temporary deficits and government-guaranteed advances.
• Sale and purchase of NPAs.
• Capital and risk-adequacy matters, CASA, bills payable and contingent liabilities.
• Auditor’s reports and certificates, Long Form Audit Report, and concurrent-audit appointments, procedures, reporting systems and MCQ-type points.

NBFC audit

• Registration and fund requirements, including amendments and exemptions.
• Scale-based regulation and its four layers; layer-wise minimum capital requirements.
• Tier 2 capital, capital calculations and risk weights.
• Asset classification by overdue period and provisioning, including standard-asset provisioning for upper-layer NBFCs.
• Downgrades below the minimum specified investment grade.
• Audit reporting for NBFCs accepting public deposits, exception reporting to the RBI, and differences between Schedule III Division II and Division III.

Due diligence, investigation and forensic accounting

• Reasons for due diligence and its different classifications.
• Scope and cash-flow assessment, including whether the business can meet requirements internally; overvalued assets and hidden liabilities.
• Contents of a due-diligence report.
• Investigation-programme steps, preparation issues and special investigation matters, including investigations connected with bank lending.
• Fraud indicators and the fraud diamond; factors affecting an auditor’s ability to detect fraud.
• Verification of cash receipts and inflated cash payments, customer-ledger fraud and inventory fraud.
• Investigation procedures and the forensic-accounting process, including analysis, reporting, report format, content and elements, and forensic-accounting standards.

Risk assessment, internal control and internal audit

• Audit risk and risk-identification steps; matters to consider when responding to risk.
• Internal-control objectives, accounting controls, limitations and segregation of duties.
• Adequacy of records and documents; the five components of internal control.
• Techniques for evaluating internal control and reporting material weaknesses to the client.
• Internal audit: appointment and applicability; SIA 210 activities; responsibilities, planning approach, scope and performance steps; identifying risk gaps; internal versus external audit; and the audit trail.

Digital audit and emerging technology

• Considerations and challenges of digital audit and its key features.
• Auditing in an IT or automated environment, including risks arising from IT dependencies.
• Common cyberattacks, stages and impacts of cyber risk, and related control considerations, including electronic-fund-transfer controls.
• Remote-audit advantages and disadvantages.
• Data analytics: uses, tools and techniques.
• Automated tools, the Internet of Things and blockchain.
• Testing controls in technology-related situations, adapting to changes in the technology environment, and examples of emerging technologies.

Speakers and sources featured

• Presenter: Ankush Chirimar, the instructor addressing students throughout the video.
• Source of the topic analysis: The presenter’s trend analysis of questions from the previous six ICAI attempts.
• No other speakers are featured.