Overview
In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed audits performed by certified public accountants (CPA) for state and local governments to determine whether there is a relationship between the way the governments procure audit services and the quality of audits that result. GAO found that: (1) state and local governments are almost three times as likely to receive audits that meet professional standards when they have effective procurement processes; (2) the critical attributes that should be present in any procurement regardless of size are competition, solicitation, technical evaluation, and a written agreement; (3) 58 percent of the governments it reviewed used a procurement process that did not meet all four criteria; (4) the incidence of unacceptable quality audits fell from 46 percent to 17 percent when governments met all four criteria; and (5) governments currently have little guidance and employ a wide variety of procurement techniques.
- | Author: U. S. Government Accountability Office (
- | Publisher: Bibliogov
- | Publication Date: Jul 29, 2013
- | Number of Pages: 68 pages
- | Binding: Paperback or Softback
- | ISBN-10: 128924796X
- | ISBN-13: 9781289247966
