May 19, 2006, letter commenting on the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board's January 19, 2006, proposed statement on standards for attestation engagements "Reporting on an Entity's Internal Control Over Financial Reporting"

This letter provides the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) comments on the Auditing Standards Board's (ASB) January 19, 2006, exposure draft of a proposed Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) entitled Reportng on an Entiy's Inernal Control Over Financial Reportng, codified as AT 501. This proposed standard would replace the current standard AT 501. GAO's comments focus on five areas: (1) Consistency with the PCAOB's Auditing Standard No. 2; (2) Rotational testing; (3) Guidance on written assertion; (4) Options to limit extent of testing; and (5) Strengthen assessment of IT controls.