CISA Information System Auditing Process Practice Question
During an IS audit, the auditor finds that a control deficiency could result in a material misstatement. According to ISACA standards, this should be classified as:
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
A material weakness
A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies that results in a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement will not be prevented or detected.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
An observation
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect; an observation is less severe, typically a minor issue.
- ✗
A deficiency
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect; a deficiency is a general term; material weakness is the highest severity.
- ✗
A finding
Why it's wrong here
A finding is a general audit observation; however, this scenario specifies a control deficiency that could result in a material misstatement, which ISACA standards require to be classified more severely. Such a significant risk necessitates a specific classification beyond a mere finding to ensure it receives appropriate management attention and remediation. While all audit observations are initially findings, this option would only be correct for less severe observations that do not carry the potential for a material misstatement or other high-impact consequences.
- ✓
A material weakness
Why this is correct
Correct; a material weakness is a deficiency that could result in material misstatement.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 995 original CISA practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISA exam.