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Posted by on Oct 8, 2014

Agency Managers Get Needed Tool – a New Green Book

How can a green book help managers? Managers are required by law to assess their internal control each year, and they need a guide in doing that.  “The Green Book” (formal title: Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government) is such a guide. This guide is developed and published by the Government Accountability Office […]

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Posted by on Aug 19, 2014

Federal Audits: How Much Evidence is Enough?

How much evidence is enough? Is this a question answered by using “professional judgment?” Unfortunately there is no formula in the Yellow Book – or anywhere else for that matter — that answers these questions.  So … how do we know? The Yellow Book (para. 6.67) says: “Sufficiency is a measure of the quantity of evidence used […]

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Posted by on Jun 26, 2014

Bad Auditude: Are Auditors Destined to Become Cynics?

Auditors: trained cynics or professional skeptics? I’ve heard spouses of longtime auditors accuse their mates of becoming trained cynics.  You know how it goes: An auditor walks in the front door at home after a long day of rooting out fraud, waste, and mismanagement and immediately comments on the fact that the living room easy […]

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Posted by on May 29, 2014

Appearances in Audits Are Actually Everything

Appearances matter in conducting audits. The Yellow Book says appearance is an important factor in conducting audits; that is, “independence in appearance,” which goes along with independence of mind. These are the two main qualities an auditor must exhibit in order to meet the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) standard on independence. The focus […]

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Posted by on Apr 24, 2014

Top 3 Ways to Avoid Audit Report Draft Ping Pong Syndrome

We’ve all lived through it (or, should I say, survived it): numerous audit report rewrites bouncing back and forth through multiple layers of review.  For everyone involved in an audit, from auditors to managers to reviewers, this Ping Pong Syndrome can be a real headache. Some amount of back and forth is inevitable, but a […]

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