The Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), commonly referred to as the "Yellow Book", are produced in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by the

Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...

(GAO). The standards apply to both

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

and

performance audit Performance audit refers to an independent examination of a program, function, operation or the management systems and procedures of a governmental or non-profit entity to assess whether the entity is achieving economy, efficiency and effectivenes ...

s of

government agencies A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...

. Five general standards are included: *

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Due care Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a l ...

* Continuing professional education (CPE) 80 hours every 2 years, 24 hours directly related to government auditinghttps://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-18-568g.pdf *

Supervision Supervision is an act or instance of directing, managing, or oversight. Etymology The English noun "supervision" derives from the two Latin words "super" (above) and "videre" (see, observe). Spelling The spelling is "Supervision" in Standard E ...

Quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...

The Yellow Book standards are used by auditors who examine the federal government, including the Government Accountability Office, various offices of inspectors general, and others. Many local government performance auditors also use the yellow book standards. In addition, CPA firms that perform local government financial audits that include an A-133 "single audit" must follow yellow book standards. In addition to financial audits, the Yellow Book standards cover Performance Audits, which evaluate the performance of a program or project against defined objectives, such as objectives for efficiency and effectiveness.

Other government auditing standards, used by supreme audit institutions

The

International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is an intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions. Nearly every supreme audit institution in the world is a member of INTOSAI. Depending on t ...

(INTOSAI) has developed the INTOSAI Auditing Standards

Other government auditing standards, used by supreme audit institutions

References

See also