Audits

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Government audits are rigorous audits or examinations of an entity that expends $500,000 or more of federal assistance (commonly known as federal funds, federal grants or federal awards) received for its operations.[1][2][3] Usually performed annually,[4] the Single Audit’s objective is to provide assurance to the US federal government as to the management and use of such funds by different recipients, such as states, cities, universities and nonprofit organizations, among others. The audit is typically performed by an independent certified public accountant (CPA) and encompasses both financial and compliance components.

Each year, the government awards billions of dollars in grants, loans, loan guarantees, property, cooperative agreements, interest subsidies, insurance, food commodities, direct appropriations and federal cost reimbursements that are subject to audit requirements.[5]

Evaluating government websites

Government websites should include:

  • Information about regular audits,
  • Audit results for the past 3-5 years,
  • Scheduled financial audits, and
  • Performance audits should be conducted and posted online.

Audits are shown under the Budget and Finance link.

Audit standards

In 1972, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a set of standards known as the Yellow Book. These standards are to be used by auditors "for conducting high quality audits with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence."[6] These standards have been kept up-to-date through the work of the Yellow Book Advisory Council. The Yellow Book Advisory Council makes comments, revisions and suggestions to the GAO, which then considers that input before publishing a new version. The Yellow Book standards are to be used by all auditors conducting audits of governmental agencies, organizations that receive government funds and any other organization that stipulates to the Yellow Book standards. Auditors using the Yellow Book as their foundation are "lead[ers]...in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process."[6]

See also

Ballotpedia:Index of Terms

External links


Footnotes

  1. ↑ OMB Office of Federal Financial Management, "The Single Audit," accessed October 8, 2014
  2. ↑ OMB Office of Federal Financial Management, "Circular A-133; Subpart B" - Audits; §___.200 - Audit requirements, accessed October 8, 2014
  3. ↑ tgci.com, "Understanding Single Audits," accessed October 8, 2014 by Henry Flood, Grantsmanship Center Magazine, Fall 2002, retrieved on June 30, 2006
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named a133_220
  5. ↑ American Institute of CPAs, "What is a Governmental Audit?" archived February 9, 2010
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Government Accountability Office, "The Yellow Book," accessed January 24, 2015
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