Yellow Book Refresher (4 hours)

Objectives

After this course attendees should have an understanding of:

The topics covered by GAO’s Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book)

The requirements of the Yellow Book that apply to performance audits  

2024 changes and updates to the Yellow Book

Short Description

The Government Auditing Standards, or Yellow Book, provide a framework to guide government auditors to do high-quality audit work with competence. In this course, we will walk through the various sections of the standards relevant to performance audits and discuss the intent of each section. We will also cover the changes to the standards released by GAO in 2024 and the related implementation timeframe.    

Course Outline

Overview

Brief history of the Yellow Book

Discussion: Why do we follow audit standards?

Sections

Types of engagements and general requirements

Ethics, independence, and professional judgment

        Competence and continuing education

        Quality management, engagement quality reviews, and peer review*

Fieldwork standards for performance audits

        Planning

        Conducting the engagement

        Supervision

        Evidence

        Documentation

        Reporting standards for performance audits

                Report format and content

                Views of responsible officials

                Report distribution

Exercise: Why do these topics matter?  [Assign specific topics to break out groups to brainstorm why they are included in the standards; discuss as a class]

Overview of 2024 Revisions to the Yellow Book

Wrap up

* Most changes in the 2024 Yellow Book occurred in this section