Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.
'It is time, 15 years on from the coining of the "Audit Explosion", to re-appraise the growth of new forms of auditing. As we move into what might be called "Auditing in Austerity" this book gives us that overview. An extremely well-informed team of authors has been assembled to deliver a comparative analysis that successfully mixes "insider" and "outsider" perspectives. This should be required reading, not just for auditors and their academic hangers-on, but for the wider audience of those interested in contemporary developments in democratic accountability and policymaking.' – Christopher Pollitt, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium 'This book fills an important gap in the market. At a time when governments around the world face the largest deficits in decades, there is a strong need to reduce public expenditures whilst ensuring greater value for money from public services. This book addresses these concerns and many more. Each of the chapter authors is a senior practitioner and/or an academic who specialises in performance auditing and accountability in modern complex democracies. They explore the nature of the concepts which underlie current practice; set out a variety of institutional structures and processes, and identify the limits of both theory and practice. These make this a book of considerable significance and one which makes an important contribution to our understanding of the democratic process. This is not a narrowly-focused book only of interest to those who specialise in performance auditing. Given the richness of its analysis and the fine-grained understanding of institutions and processes, it has much to say to students of public administration, management and policy analysis. I am confident that this will rapidly become the standard reference for those who are interested in performance auditing.' – Peter M. Jackson AcSS, University of Leicester, UK 'What a good read. Insightful and challenging. It is likely to incite a lot of discussion on the wide-ranging views from the very well-informed and qualified contributors, not least from those who actually have to implement the findings and recommendations of performance audit reports. The focus is rightly on accountability for performance not only in achieving government program objectives in an economic, efficient and effective manner, but also on the audit institutions themselves. It should be welcomed by the public sector and particularly by the parliamentary institutions concerned with achieving accountability for government performance.' – Pat Barrett AO, Australian National University and former Australian Auditor-General (1995–2005) 'This book is a much welcome tonic for public administration. It is one of the few books that explicitly focus on how audit institutions carry out their performance auditing responsibilities. While auditors will likely read this, the authors have geared the book to a broader readership, including public managers who are often the subject of performance audits.' – From the foreword by Paul Posner, George Mason University, US This state-of-the-art book examines the development of performance audit, drawing on the experience in a number of different countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The expert contributors identify the trajectory of performance audit, examine how it is conducted and consider what it is contributing to effective government. They conclude that, in the face of new challenges, performance auditors should focus both on their core responsibilities to ensure accountability, and continue to develop more insightful and sophisticated approaches to enable them to assess the growing complexity of the delivery of public services. By doing so, they can continue to play a valuable role in democratic accountability. Providing an up-to-date overview and discussion of performance audit, this highly topical book will appeal to all those working within audit, academics working in the fields of public management and public administration, as well practitioners in and close to state audit institutions. Members of Parliament, evaluators, internal auditors, researchers, policy analysts and consultants will also find this book invaluable.
The Author has over 40 years of experience in the construction field exposed to Contractors, Consultants, Clients and teaching environments. His special interest is Construction Auditing and he has done various researches, submitted articles to construction magazines and presented research papers at international conferences. His personal opinion is that the Construction Cost professional Institutions and the Professionals at large have completely ignored the field of construction auditing for a long time. The governments’ construction expenditure, which now involve a significant portion of the budget of many countries mandated to be audited as check & balance. This government construction auditing exercise is still carried out by Financial Institutions under the name of Performance Auditing. The lack of interest by the Cost Construction professional Institutions resulted in the continuation of Performance Auditing by Financial Accountants. Construction at present is huge, complicated, involving different entities with various Contractual arrangements. The Financial Accountants do not have the sufficient skill to audit construction in the present environment and the results are plain to see. The loss owing to Frauds in government double (internal & external) audited construction has reached upwards of US $ 4 Trillion per year according to Transparency International. That is US $ 1.50 per head per day of the entire world population. This is an affront to the 21 century as more than a Billion people live below US $ 1.25 per day. The immediate requirement is a Post- Graduate course on Construction Auditing, Construction Auditing standards and a union for such auditors. The author hopes that this book will serve some purpose in that long exercise. The book can also be helpful to practicing construction professionals and students following construction related courses. . The other books by the author How To Win and Manage Construction Projects Published by Authorhouse Irregularities, Frauds and The Necessity of Technical Auditing in Construction Industry. Published by Authorhouse How To Be Successful At Interviews” Published by Notionpress, India.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations
The overall objective of this report was to determine whether DoD officials properly managed and administered the contracts supporting the DoD Counter Narco-Terrorism Technology Program Office. Specifically, this report reviewed contract management, surveillance, and billing for 35 task orders worth approximately $98.8 million issued on or before August 16, 2008. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication.
