Which of the following is an example of impairment to an internal auditor’s independence?

The candidate source identifies option A because the auditor is assigned to provide assurance over an area for which he recently had direct operational responsibility. This creates a self-review threat: the auditor may be required to evaluate processes, controls, or decisions that were established or performed while he supervised accounts payable. Internal Audit Fundamentals guidance emphasizes that auditors should not provide assurance over activities for which they had recent responsibility because impartial judgment may be impaired. Option B also reflects inappropriate conduct involving a personal relationship, but option A most directly reflects the source’s intended prior-responsibility impairment. Option C may threaten audit judgment if management influences sample selection, while option D represents the auditor exercising judgment to expand testing in response to suspected errors. Therefore, A is the keyed answer.