Sampling risk is the risk that an auditor will take a sample that is not representative of the total population. An example is if an auditor mistakenly takes a sample of 500 invoices out of a population of 1,000 and verifies to make sure there are no mistakes. The auditor may have chosen invoices randomly however, there is always a risk that the invoices that were selected to be tested are free of error but the invoices that contain material misstatements may be in the population that are unaccounted for. The auditor would not realize it and conduct a less thorough audit since the sample was free of material misstatements and errors.
