Who Audits the Auditors?

This article appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 15, Issue 3, Summer 1980. Audit organizations need periodic evaluation to ensure the quality of their audits and maintain the confidence in that quality among program managers, legislators, and other audit groups. The Midwestern Intergovernmental Audit Forum drafted an evaluation guide which included evaluation standards for auditing organizations to meet, accompanied by aids or criteria to help a review team assess compliance. The system included: an overview of the project, a guide containing 52 evaluation standards and aids, bylaws for a managing committee, a scoring and compliance scheme, a report format, a typical engagement letter contracting for the assessment, a review team applicant questionnaire, and a questionnaire and related transmittal letters for audit staff, report users, and auditees. The guide described organizational planning and controls, independence, qualifications, supervision, work-papers, legal and regulatory requirements, internal control, financial audit reports, reporting procedures, and external audits. Intergovernmental cooperation and understanding was essential to the development of this system and to its future success.