Final answer:
Statistical sampling provides an advantage of allowing auditors to objectively measure evidential sufficiency, with methods like stratified sampling ensuring representation of population subgroups. Increasing sample size can lower sampling errors, such as the ±3 percent error which indicates a confidence interval around a sample statistic.
Step-by-step explanation:
An advantage of statistical sampling over non statistical sampling is that statistical sampling helps an auditor to objectively measure the sufficiency of the evidential matter obtained. This is because statistical sampling provides a methodical approach which allows for the calculation of sampling error and the creation of confidence intervals. Moreover, techniques like stratified sampling, systematic sampling, and simple random sampling can help ensure that the selected sample is representative of the entire population.
d. To lower the sampling error, one way to accomplish that is to increase the sample size. Larger samples reduce the margin of error and provide results that are more likely to represent the true characteristics of the whole population. The mention of the sampling error being ±3 percent indicates the range within which the true value in the population is expected to lie, with a certain level of confidence, based on the sample data. A ±3 percent represents that the actual population parameter should fall within 3 percent above or below the sample statistic with a specified degree of certainty.