Governmental Auditing: An Introduction
Classroom, Virtual
Who Should Attend
This course is designed for all new performance auditors and contractors who need to plan and conduct performance audits in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) as well as evaluators, inspectors, reviewers, contracting officer’s representatives, and any other staff involved in performance audits.
Course Overview
This course will introduce auditors to the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), audit approaches, and audit techniques. In addition, participants will be introduced to other applicable laws, regulations, and authorities. Participants will learn about various types of audits conducted by federal government auditors and various audit phases from planning to reporting. The course includes techniques for developing audit findings, preparing audit reports, and making actionable recommendations.
The information will be provided through lectures, discussions, and exercises.
Course Topics and Agenda
Day 1: Foundations and Planning (Yellow Book)
- Introduction to Governmental Auditing
- Foundations and principles: public interest and accountability
- The role of the Government auditor
- Types of engagements
- Differentiating financial, attestation, and performance audits
- Ethics, Independence, and Professional Judgment
- Conceptual framework for independence (threats and safeguards)
- Due professional care and professional skepticism
- Performance Audit Planning: Preliminary Steps
- Fieldwork standards for performance audits
- Developing the audit objective and scope
- Identifying and evaluating criteria (The most common Yellow Book deficiency)
- Introduction to Internal Control
- GAO Green Book: internal control standards
- The five components of internal control
Day 2: Fieldwork and Evidence (Yellow Book - Integrated Approach)
- Risk Assessment and Project Prioritization
- Risk-based audit planning for the office (Annual Plan)
- Linking risks to audit engagements
- Gathering and Analyzing Evidence
- Fieldwork Standards (sufficiency and appropriateness)
- Types of evidence (physical, testimonial, documentary, analytical)
- Techniques: interviews, observation, sampling, data analytics
- Developing and Supporting Findings
- The 5 elements of a finding - criteria, condition, cause, effect, recommendation
- Identifying the cause and the importance of linkage to recommendation
- Communicating results
- Determining the effect (impact on economy, efficiency, or effectiveness)
- Working Papers and Documentation
- Documentation requirements
- Best practices for documentation, retention, and review
Day 3: Reporting and Quality Assurance (Yellow Book)
- Performance Audit Reporting Standards
- Required content of the audit report
- Obtaining and reporting the views of responsible officials
- Effective Report Writing and Review
- Writing effective findings and recommendations
- Characteristics of quality reporting - clear, concise, complete
- Editing and the final review process
- Quality Management and Assurance
- Quality management and peer review
- The shift from Quality Control to Quality Management (2024 Yellow Book)
- Designing and implementing a scalable Quality Assurance Improvement Program (QAIP)
- Follow-up and Implementation Monitoring
- The importance of tracking management's corrective action
- Review of the full standards and final Q&A