Paul Ltd have been auditing Homelectric Ltd, which operates a chain of retail shops throughout the country selling a wide range of electrical goods. Each branch has computerised cash registers linked into the central computerised sales, receivables, and inventory records.

At the point of sale, the information keyed in includes the following: branch reference, product number, inventory location, unit selling price, date of sale. The file of inventory records is updated daily for sales and receipts. It contains both cost (on a FIFO basis) and selling price information. The only regular printed output is sales summaries analysed by value, product and branch.

Required:

(a) Describe FOUR (4) circumstances during the course of an audit, when it would not be appropriate to adopt a sampling approach to testing. (8 marks)

(b) Describe the following methods of sample selection:

(i) Random selection

(ii) Systematic selection

(iii) Haphazard selection

(iv) Block selection