AICPA CPA-Auditing Exam Prep
CPA Auditing and Attestation (AUD) (Page 20 )

• UPS battery-backed outlets: Connect only essential devices needed during an outage:

• Surge-protector-only outlets: Connect nonessential devices, especially the printer. Printing does not need to continue while you are saving work and shutting down.
• UPS power source: Plug the UPS directly into a wall outlet.
• Surge protector power source: Plug it directly into a wall outlet as well. Do not normally plug a surge protector into the UPS, because that creates a daisy chain and can overload the UPS.

• Accept: Acknowledges the risk without taking additional action.
• Transfer: Shifts the risk or financial impact to another party, such as an insurer.
• Mitigate: Reduces the likelihood or impact through controls like patching, MFA, or segmentation.
• Avoid: Eliminates the activity that creates the risk.

• Additional running costs: $800
• Less depreciation: $300

• The $100 reduction in fixed production overhead absorbed is only an accounting reallocation. It does not represent an actual saving in total fixed overhead.

• Honeypots are deliberately vulnerable or attractive systems designed to lure attackers. Legitimate users should not normally access them, so activity there can indicate a successful intrusion or lateral movement.

• A DNS sinkhole redirects requests for known malicious domains to a controlled internal system instead of the real destination. Security teams can monitor those requests and identify compromised devices attempting to contact command-and-control infrastructure.

• Tokenization: Replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive tokens; it is a protection method, not an attacker-detection method.
• CI/CD: Automates software development and deployment processes.
• Threat modeling: Identifies potential threats during design and planning.
• Data obfuscation: Makes information harder to understand, but does not directly detect infiltrators.

• Allow the team to identify the causes of delays.
• Encourage improvements to processes, tools, and collaboration.
• Help remove impediments without dictating solutions.
• Protect quality and maintain a sustainable pace.

• A: An impediment log may help track issues, but merely recording them does not resolve the root causes.
• B: Directing teams toward solutions conflicts with the agile principle of a self-managing team.
• C: Adding impediments to the product backlog may delay their resolution and incorrectly treats them as product features.

• A — Increased call deflection: o KCS disponibiliza conhecimento reutilizável para clientes e agentes, ajudando a resolver dúvidas sem abrir ou continuar chamadas.
• C — Reduced issue resolution time: os representantes reutilizam artigos e soluções já documentadas, acelerando o atendimento.
• E — Optimized use of resources: o conhecimento compartilhado reduz retrabalho e melhora o uso dos recursos da equipe.

• Relationship cardinality:

• Filter direction:

• Active versus inactive relationships: only active relationships automatically propagate filters.
• Blank or unmatched values: a fact-table value without a matching dimension row can create the model’s blank/unknown member.
• Uniqueness: the “one” side must contain unique values; duplicate keys generally belong on the “many” side.

• Help the team identify the root causes of delays.
• Empower the team to improve its workflow and practices.
• Facilitate removal of impediments.
• Avoid directing the team toward a solution without its involvement.
• Protect quality and sustainable delivery rather than simply accelerating everything.

• A: An impediment log may help, but merely recording problems does not empower the team to solve them.
• B: Directing the team to solutions conflicts with self-management.
• C: Adding impediments to the product backlog may incorrectly treat internal obstacles as product features and delays their resolution.

• Input validation: Prevents malicious or malformed input within an application; it does not authenticate a software package.
• Secure cookies: Protect web-session cookies; they do not protect downloadable software.
• Fuzzing: Tests software by supplying unexpected input to find vulnerabilities; it does not verify software integrity.

• Deficiency found before patient use: usually does not require an adverse-event report because no patient exposure occurred.
• Event caused solely by the patient’s condition: may not be reportable if the device did not contribute.
• Malfunction protection operated correctly: generally exempt when the device’s safety mechanism worked as intended and prevented harm.

• Injection
• Broken access control
• Authentication failures
• Security misconfiguration
• Cross-site scripting

• STIX: A standardized language and format for exchanging threat intelligence.
• OVAL: Used to describe and assess system vulnerabilities and configuration issues.
• Threat intelligence feed: Provides current indicators and intelligence about threats, but not necessarily a structured overview of common application exploitation methods.
• CVE: A catalog of individually identified, publicly disclosed vulnerabilities.

• A — VARIANT "null" values are not the same as SQL NULL values: True

• B — Frequent, single-row DMLs: False

• C — Validate data before loading into the target table: True

• D — Use staging tables to manage MERGE statements: True

1. Append Table1 and Table2 as a new query

1. Select the product column in the appended query.

1. Choose Remove Rows > Remove Duplicates

• User2 is in Group1, so CA2 applies.
• CA2 targets Office 365.
• CA2 requires MFA OR an app protection policy.
• User2 has no app protection policy, but if User2 successfully completes MFA, the OR condition is satisfied.
• The device being noncompliant does not matter because CA2 does not require device compliance.
• CA1 applies only to Global Administrators. Unless User2 is also a Global Administrator, CA1 does not apply.

1. Write a structured log entry to CloudWatch Logs containing:

1. Create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter that:

text 
ApiRequests 
Operation=GetOrders 
ResponseCode=500 
Version=2.4.0

• B is incorrect: CloudWatch Logs Insights queries analyze logs but do not directly publish metrics in this manner.
• C is incorrect: ALB access logs do not contain arbitrary Lambda response metadata as custom fields.
• D is incorrect: X-Ray traces and insights are not the appropriate mechanism for creating these custom, dimensioned application metrics.

• A — Windows 11 with Azure CLI installed: Yes

• D — Chrome OS using Azure Cloud Shell: Yes

• E — Windows 10 with the Azure PowerShell module installed: Yes

• B — Linux with only Azure CLI: No, because the option does not state that PowerShell is installed.
• C — macOS with PowerShell Core only: No, because it does not state that Azure PowerShell modules or Azure CLI are installed.

• Early units show relatively large time savings.
• Later units still take less time, but the reduction becomes progressively smaller.
• The curve therefore becomes flatter as production approaches 256 units.

• B: The reduction is not constant; learning normally diminishes over time.
• C: Time does not reduce at an increasing rate.
• D: A steady state may eventually be reached, but the question concerns the first 255 units while learning is still occurring.

• A: CEO-sponsored formal policy — demonstrates executive support, but sponsorship at one point in time may not sustain commitment.
• B: Security awareness training — primarily improves employee behavior, not senior management commitment.
• C: Periodic alignment reviews — ongoing reviews show that security remains relevant, supports business priorities, and uses resources appropriately.
• D: Senior management signoff on the strategy — useful for governance and accountability, but signoff is generally a one-time event.

• Sales processes: Define the available Opportunity stages for each team.
• Record types: Connect each team to its appropriate sales process and page layout.
• Page layouts: Control which fields and related sections each team sees.

• Solar market team 1
• Solar market team 2
• Installation Services team

• One sales process: Cannot provide different Opportunity stages for each team.
• One page layout: Cannot provide different field arrangements or fields by team.
• Three page layouts alone: Page layouts control fields, but not the available stages.

• Internal audit: Reviews the organization’s own controls and processes.
• Penetration testing: Actively tests systems for exploitable vulnerabilities.
• Attestation: A SOC 2 report is an attestation product issued by an independent auditor, but the analyst is not performing the attestation. They are reviewing it as part of vendor evaluation.

• Group1 — security-enabled: Eligible.
• Group2 — mail-enabled and security-enabled: Eligible because it is still a security group.
• Group3 — Microsoft 365 group: Not eligible for group-based licensing.
• Group4 — Microsoft 365 group, not security-enabled: Not eligible.

• The load balancer provides the listener’s frontend IP address.
• The active SQL Server node must also respond to that same listener IP.
• Enabling Floating IP allows the listener IP to be preserved and handled correctly by the active replica.
• Without it, SQL connections may be sent to a node that cannot correctly claim the listener address.

• A health probe for the SQL Server port
• A load-balancing rule using the listener port
• Floating IP enabled on that rule

• JDBC
• SnowSQL
• Snowflake Web Interface (UI)
• ODBC
• Python connector

• Reduce the training data: Usually makes overfitting worse.
• Add hyperparameters: Hyperparameters already control training; simply adding them does not solve the problem. Proper tuning could help, but that is not what the option states.
• Increase training time: More training can worsen overfitting if the model is already memorizing the training data.

• Driver node: Coordinates Spark jobs and runs in the compute environment.
• Worker node: Executes tasks and processes data.
• Databricks Filesystem (DBFS): Provides storage access for data used by compute resources.

• Regression predicts continuous numeric outcomes, such as house price, temperature, or sales amount.
• Linear regression assumes the target can be estimated from a linear relationship between the input features and the target.
• In Azure Machine Learning, you use a labeled dataset containing:

• Classification predicts a category or class, such as “spam” or “not spam.”
• Clustering groups similar records without a known label; it is an unsupervised learning technique.

• Employees can work from any location, including remote sites and offices worldwide.
• Login can be relatively seamless after the device is registered.
• It does not require distributing additional physical authentication equipment.

• Geotagging: Identifies location, but location alone is not a strong authentication method and may prevent legitimate remote access.
• Smart cards: Provide strong authentication but require card readers and physical cards, increasing equipment and management requirements.
• Time-based logins: Typically involve one-time codes that users must enter, making the experience less seamless and potentially requiring a token or authenticator app.

Manager role

DAX 
Country[Manager] = USERPRINCIPALNAME()

• Sales
• Human Resources

CFO role

• See sales for all countries
• See no Human Resources data

• Do not restrict the Country table or Sales table.
• Apply a filter to Human Resources that always returns false, such as:

DAX 
FALSE()

1. Discovery tries the SSH probe first.
2. SSH fails.
3. Discovery tries SNMP, which succeeds.
4. Discovery records SNMP as the preferred service for that IP.
5. Future discoveries try SNMP first.

• Classification identifies the type of device, such as a server, router, or printer.
• Credential affinity remembers which credentials work for a device.
• MID Server affinity associates a device or network with a particular MID Server.
• IP service affinity specifically controls the preferred discovery protocol or service.

• Custom domains: Supported by Basic and higher tiers.
• Dedicated compute: Basic and Standard use dedicated virtual machine instances; Free and Shared use shared infrastructure.
• Load balancing between instances: Standard provides scaling across multiple instances with load balancing.
• Storage: Standard provides more storage than Basic.
• Cost: Standard is the least expensive option that satisfies all the stated requirements.

• Free/Shared: Use shared compute and have limited features; they don’t meet the dedicated-compute requirement.
• Basic: Provides dedicated compute and custom domains, but does not provide the required Standard-level multi-instance capabilities in the exam’s feature comparison.

• Instant messaging/chat: Can be abused to send malicious links or attachments, but P2P file sharing is the more direct high-risk source.
• E-mail: A common malware delivery method, but this question specifically emphasizes an application type associated with direct file exchange.
• End-to-end applications: This describes communication protection or architecture, not a specific application category known for malware distribution.

• Reconnaissance: Gathering information about the target.
• Weaponization: Creating or combining a malicious payload with a delivery method.
• Delivery: Sending the payload, such as through phishing.
• Exploitation: Triggering a vulnerability or weakness to gain execution or access.

• Deterrent control: The signs warning that people may be filmed can discourage unauthorized activity. They do not physically prevent the activity, but they may influence behavior.
• Detective control: CCTV detects or records activity so security personnel can identify incidents and investigate them later.

• Preventive: Stops an incident from occurring, such as a locked door.
• Corrective: Restores systems after an incident, such as backups.
• Directive: Instructs people what to do, such as security policies or warning instructions.
• Compensating: Provides an alternative control when the preferred control cannot be used.

• Transport and handling
• Storage and warehousing
• Refrigeration
• Shelf-stacking or replenishment
• Other costs directly attributable to product P

• A single summarized value, such as total annual sales
• Progress toward a defined target or goal
• Whether performance is below, near, or above the target

• Table: Displays detailed records or summarized rows, but not goal progress visually.
• Stacked Bar: Compares multiple categories and their parts.
• Donut: Shows how a total is divided among categories, not progress toward a target.

• Match found: ServiceNow updates the existing target record.
• No match found: ServiceNow normally creates a new target record.
• No Transform Map is created or deleted based on whether a match is found.

• Suporta domínios personalizados.
• Oferece 50 GB de armazenamento — suficiente para os 10 GB de cada aplicação.
• Usa instâncias de computação dedicadas.
• Inclui balanceamento de carga entre instâncias.
• É o plano mais econômico entre as opções que atendem a todos esses requisitos.

• Create procurement-manager-role only in the shared services accounts, where procurement managers operate.
• Attach AWSPrivateMarketplaceAdminFullAccess to that role.
• Procurement managers assume the role when they need to administer Private Marketplace.
• Apply a root-level SCP that explicitly denies Private Marketplace administration to everyone except that role. The SCP acts as a maximum-permission boundary across member accounts.
• Add another SCP denying creation of a role with the same name. Otherwise, another administrator might create a similarly named role and bypass the intended exception.

• Creating the role in every account increases administration and creates more opportunities for misuse.
• A permissions boundary on developer roles does not prevent other administrators from managing Private Marketplace.
• Applying the SCP only to shared services accounts would not protect the rest of the organization.

• Review the risk register.
• Check the documented risk response strategy, such as using a backup resource, reallocating work, or adjusting sequencing.
• Implement the planned response promptly.

• B: Moving the task may affect the critical path and should not be done without first evaluating the planned response and impacts.
• C: Excluding a required task would change scope and business requirements without proper analysis or approval.
• D: Updating lessons learned and the risk log may be appropriate later, but it does not address the immediate problem. First, execute the response.

DAX 
Blue Sales = 
CALCULATE( 
    [Total Sales], 
    KEEPFILTERS('Product'[Color] = "Blue") 
)

• CALCULATE evaluates [Total Sales] after applying an additional filter.
• 'Product'[Color] = "Blue" restricts the calculation to blue products.
• KEEPFILTERS ensures the existing filter context is preserved. For example, filters for year, region, or customer remain active. If Color is already filtered, the blue condition is applied as an intersection rather than replacing the existing filter.
• Avoid ALL, because it removes filters and would not maintain the existing context.

• Understating expenses and liabilities
• Overstating profit
• Misleading users of the financial information
• Potentially breaching integrity, objectivity, and professional competence and due care

• Constrained VMs: VMs whose workloads are experiencing resource pressure, such as insufficient CPU or memory. They may need additional resources or optimization.
• Overprovisioned VMs: VMs allocated more CPU, memory, or storage than their workloads require. Their resources may be reclaimed or reduced.

• Underprovisioned VMs: This is not the predefined view identified for this report question.
• Zombie VMs: These are typically inactive or unused VMs and are useful for cleanup, but they are not the two views specifically intended here to identify inefficient resource allocation.

• Prevention costs: Avoiding defects, such as staff training and improved product design. The company has invested in these.
• Appraisal costs: Detecting defects before products reach customers, such as inspection and testing. The planned batch sampling has not been implemented.
• Internal failure costs: Correcting defects found before delivery.
• External failure costs: Dealing with defects after delivery, such as refunds, replacements, complaints and lost sales.

Recommended process

1. Access each switch’s terminal.
2. Use help to identify available commands.
3. Use the MAC table command, such as:

text 
   show mac-address-table

1. Use VLAN information, such as:

text 
   show vlan

1. Use interface information, such as:

text 
   show ip interface brief

1. Record each device’s:

• Job Links ? URL ID: Mainly summarizes link performance; it is not the easiest place to retrieve individual email addresses by alias.
• Tracking Overview ? Clicks: Provides aggregate click metrics, not a targeted list for one aliased link.
• Click Activity ? Link View: Focuses on link-level reporting, but the question’s intended workflow for locating clicks tied to a specific placement/alias is Email Overlay.

• A. Remove rows where Sales[Status] is Canceled

• E. Remove Sales[Canceled Date]

• B: Removing Sales_Date would remove information users need—the date portion.
• C: Changing Delivery_Time to Integer could alter its meaning or precision and is not necessarily safe.
• D: Splitting the date/time column creates additional columns rather than simply removing unnecessary data.

1. The original app version exists.
2. You create and publish a new version, so there are now two versions.
3. When you restore the previous version, Power Apps does not delete or overwrite the newer version. Instead, it creates another version based on the restored one.

• Original version
• Newly created and published version
• New version created by the restore operation

• Each directory is a separate identity boundary.
• Managing multiple directories increases administrative overhead.
• Users and administrators may need separate identities or additional configuration across tenants.
• Resources in a subscription are associated with one Microsoft Entra tenant.

• Management groups for governance across subscriptions
• Separate subscriptions for divisions when appropriate
• Resource groups to organize resources
• Azure role-based access control (RBAC) to give each division’s administrator access only to their own resources

• The users currently have Office 365 Enterprise E3 licenses assigned directly.
• Assigning Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 through a group does not automatically remove their directly assigned E3 licenses.
• From the Licenses blade, you can select the E3 product and remove it from all assigned users in one operation. This requires less effort than editing 2,500 users individually.

• Identity Governance manages access reviews, entitlement management, and related governance—not bulk license removal.
• Set-AzureAdUser does not remove product licenses.
• Set-WindowsProductKey applies Windows product keys and is unrelated to Microsoft 365 licensing.

Why A is the best fit

Why the other options are weaker

• B — Create alerts in Dynamics 365 Finance: Alerts notify users about changes; they do not calculate tax.
• C — Implement the Common Data Model: CDM standardizes data structures but does not provide tax-calculation logic.
• D — Run a Power BI report: Power BI is primarily for analysis and reporting. A report might display tax rates, but it would not normally calculate and apply tax to sales orders operationally.
• E — Write scripts and code: This could work, but it is less aligned with the requirement for a quick, cost-effective implementation because custom development requires more time and maintenance.