Government Auditing

The General Accounting Office (GAO) in March issued a clarification ( www.gao.gov/govaud/cpeamend.htm ) of its earlier issued requirement that auditors working under Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) (collectively known as the Yellow Book) complete every two years at least 80 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) that directly enhances their professional proficiency in performing audits and/or attestation engagements. The guidance responds to practitioners’ questions as to whether—under the GAO’s June 2003 revision of GAGAS—auditors are permitted to satisfy any of the 80-hour CPE requirement by taking taxation courses. In return the GAO said that because such instruction would not—with certain exceptions—help improve auditors’ requisite skills, it generally would not satisfy GAGAS CPE requirements, which became effective for financial audits and attestation engagements of periods ending—and for performance audits beginning—on or after January 1, 2004.