Free CPEA Practice Questions

Question 1

A discharge permit sets a daily maximum of 1.0 mg/L for a metal. Every result in the month is reported as 'not detected,' but the laboratory's reporting limit is 5.0 mg/L. The laboratory confirms that these results cannot distinguish concentrations below 1.0 mg/L from concentrations between 1.0 and 5.0 mg/L. What do the results establish?

Accepted Answer

Neither compliance nor an exceedance; the analytical evidence cannot resolve the permit limit.

Answer

Compliance, because the laboratory reported no quantified metal concentration.

Answer

An exceedance on every sampling day, requiring the auditor to request immediate suspension of the discharge.

Answer

Compliance after substituting zero for each nondetect in the monthly average.

Question 2

An EHS assurance engagement follows the IIA Global Internal Audit Standards (2024). The proposed auditor managed the site's wastewater program until eight months ago. Standard 2.2 presumes impaired objectivity when an auditor assesses an activity they were responsible for within the preceding 12 months. An equally qualified auditor with no prior responsibility for the program is available. How should the wastewater work be assigned?

Accepted Answer

Assign the independent auditor to assess the program; use the former manager only as a factual resource.

Answer

Keep the proposed auditor responsible for the assessment, disclosing the former role.

Answer

Let the proposed auditor select the tests and reach the conclusion, with the current site manager reviewing and approving the work.

Answer

Postpone the entire engagement until 12 months have passed since the management assignment ended.

Question 3

A corporate audit program can advance one site visit this quarter. There are no mandatory audit deadlines or immediate uncontrolled hazards. East has commissioned a bulk-solvent transfer system and introduced night-shift contractors; neither change has been audited. North has recurring document-number errors, with the affected controls otherwise verified as effective. South is an unchanged, low-hazard warehouse with the longest interval since its last audit. West has the largest workforce but no significant operational changes. Which allocation has the strongest risk basis?

Accepted Answer

East, to evaluate controls affected by the new process and contractor arrangements.

Answer

North, to resolve the repeated documentation findings before introducing additional first-time audit coverage.

Answer

South, to prevent the longest unaudited interval from increasing further despite its unchanged risk profile.

Answer

West, to prioritize the site where control failures could affect the largest number of employees.

Question 4

At Outfall 2, the permit's daily maximum for a pollutant is 10 mg/L; an adopted corporate standard sets a daily maximum of 8 mg/L. Both are applicable audit criteria. A valid daily result is 9.1 mg/L. The finding should identify:

Accepted Answer

A corporate-standard nonconformity, with no exceedance of the permit's daily maximum.

Answer

A permit violation, because the corporate limit replaces the permit maximum.

Answer

An unconfirmed deviation requiring resampling before either requirement can support a finding.

Answer

An improvement opportunity rather than a nonconformity, because the more stringent limit was adopted voluntarily by the company.

Question 5

A complete quarterly inspection file repeats three records in this order: day shift, evening shift, night shift. The auditor selects every third record after a random start among the first three. What is the principal coverage defect in this plan?

Accepted Answer

The interval matches the shift cycle, leaving two shifts outside the selected sample.

Answer

Records near the end of the quarter have lower selection probabilities.

Answer

The selection is judgmental because records after the starting point are chosen by position rather than by separate random draws.

Answer

The plan favors whichever shift has the most inspection records.

Question 6

A draft finding states that a required environmental report was filed late. Before release, the auditor authenticates an extension issued by the permitting authority before the original deadline and confirms that the report was filed before the extended deadline. The extension was valid under the permit. The audit sponsor asks to retain the finding because it would strengthen the company's position in negotiations with the site operator. What should the auditor do with the finding?

Accepted Answer

Withdraw it and retain the evidence supporting the revised conclusion.

Answer

Retain it but lower its severity to acknowledge the permitting authority's extension.

Answer

Report the original deadline and submission date while omitting the extension from the finding.

Answer

Leave it unresolved until the sponsor and site operator agree on its treatment in the final report.

Question 7

During an audit at a U.S. general-industry facility, a worker is about to enter a permit-required tank. The permit prohibits entry below 19.5% oxygen. A functioning, correctly calibrated monitor now reads 18.2%, although the permit recorded 20.8% thirty minutes earlier. The site's stop-work procedure authorizes any person to halt an unsafe entry and notify the entry supervisor. The auditor has no entry-supervisor or rescue role. Which response is required now?

Accepted Answer

Halt the entry and alert the entry supervisor from outside the tank.

Answer

Continue under the signed permit while the attendant confirms the reading.

Answer

Continue entry using an air-purifying respirator and continuous monitoring.

Answer

Pause entry, ventilate the tank, then personally approve entry once the oxygen returns to range.

Question 8

A quarterly dashboard measures actions due in that quarter that were closed by their original due dates. Closure requires independent verification of effectiveness. Of 20 actions due, 10 passed that verification by their deadlines, four were implemented on time but verified after their deadlines, two were implemented and verified late, and four remain open. Another six actions due next quarter were closed early this quarter. Which dashboard result uses the specified measure correctly?

Accepted Answer

50%, because only ten of the twenty actions due passed independent effectiveness verification by their original deadlines.

Answer

70%, treating on-time implementation as closure for the four actions verified after their deadlines.

Answer

80%, adding the six early closures to the ten timely closures and dividing by the twenty due actions.

Answer

62.5%, excluding the four still-open actions from the population used to calculate timely closure.

Question 9

An experienced lead auditor can evaluate audit evidence but lacks the specialized knowledge needed to assess an emissions calculation in the agreed scope. An independent emissions specialist is available, and the lead has confirmed the specialist's technical competence. The specialist has not led an audit. Which division of responsibility would allow the engagement to proceed appropriately?

Accepted Answer

The specialist evaluates the technical calculation; the lead integrates that work into the audit conclusion.

Answer

The specialist issues an emissions conclusion for which the lead has no responsibility.

Answer

The lead completes the calculation checklist and consults the specialist only when a listed test produces an exception.

Answer

Postpone the engagement until the lead can personally perform the specialist's technical assessment.

Question 10

A wastewater sample contains a solvent. The same solvent appears in an equipment blank prepared by passing clean water through the reusable sampler immediately after cleaning and before collecting the wastewater. A field blank exposed to the sampling environment, an unopened trip blank, and a laboratory method blank show no detectable solvent at comparable reporting limits. Which potential source of contamination should be investigated first?

Accepted Answer

Residual solvent left in the sampler, indicating that equipment cleaning may have been ineffective.

Answer

Solvent contamination introduced while samples were stored together in transit.

Answer

Laboratory reagent contamination affecting the wastewater and equipment-blank samples during analysis.

Answer

Airborne solvent introduced during field handling of open sample containers, rather than residual contamination from the sampler.

Free CPEA Practice Questions

Domain 1: Ethics 4% of exam

Question 1

Domain 2: Due Professional Care 13% of exam

Question 2

Question 3

Domain 3: Program Implementation 19% of exam

Question 4

Question 5

Domain 4: Audit Execution 45% of exam

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Domain 5: Audit Reporting 17% of exam

Question 10

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