Which threat arises when a member of the assurance team previously served as a director or officer of the client or had influence over the subject matter?

• A. Self-review threat.
• B. Advocacy threat.
• C. Familiarity threat.
• D. Self-interest threat.

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is independence and objectivity in the audit process, specifically the risk that a team member cannot be objective because they previously influenced the subject matter. If someone on the assurance team was formerly a director or officer of the client or otherwise had influence over the subject matter, they would end up in a position to review or audit work that they themselves helped create or decide. This creates a self-review threat: the reviewer may subconsciously justify or defend judgments they once supported, compromising objectivity.

This is distinct from a familiarity threat, which comes from long-standing relationships with the client, not from having to re-evaluate one’s own prior work. So the scenario described best fits the self-review threat, since the individual would be assessing matters they previously influenced.

Mitigation involves maintaining strict independence standards, such as limiting or restructuring roles to avoid reviewing one’s own work, and applying firm policies on prior involvement with the client.