The Governmental Audit Quality Center (GAQC) is committed to helping your firm ensure the quality of its governmental audit practice.  The collection of tools and aids below are designed to do just that. Categories of information include items to assist with your firm’s quality control, a collection of relevant articles, useful web site links, and governance issuances.

Single Audit Practice Aids
This is a collection of Practice Aids developed by the GAQC in response to deficiencies noted in a federal study on the quality of single audits, as well as other tools and resources that auditors can refer to in order to enhance single audit quality.

Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book) Tools and Aids
This is a collection of Practice Aids and tools designed to help auditors maintain or improve the quality of their Yellow Book audit engagements.

For-Profit Compliance Audit Information
This is a summary of the various federal audit and attestation guides applicable to for-profit entities, as well as links to where auditees and auditors can find them.  The summary also includes other information that the GAQC is aware of relating to each federal guide and other pertinent information.  

Governmental Audit Quality Article Collection
This collection includes various articles written by AICPA staff, GAQC Members, and others containing valuable information related to governmental audit quality.

Flowcharts and Illustrations
This is a collection of flowcharts and illustrations to help members with various aspects of governmental auditing.

Useful Web Site Links
This section includes a compilation of Web sites useful to auditors performing governmental audits.

Quality Control

Tips for Getting Through a Quality Control Review (a Non-Authoritative Practice Aid): Office of Management and Budget requires that cognizant federal agencies for audit (as defined in Circular A-133) shall conduct or obtain quality control reviews of selected single audits. Quality control reviews (QCRs) typically involve an examination of the auditor’s work by a federal Office of Inspector General (OIG). Because of the prevalence of QCRs in the current governmental audit environment, the GAQC Executive Committee is providing member firms with tips on navigating through the QCR process.


The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) published two guides in 2010 that are used by federal agencies when reviewing single audits. They are as follows: Guide for Quality Control Reviews of OMB Circular A-133 Audits, and Guide for Desk Reviews of OMB Circular A-133 Audit Reports. Your firm should consider using these guides as part of your Inspection and Quality Control Programs. Taking this step may help you improve the quality of your governmental audit and attestation engagements.

Establishing and Maintaining a System of Quality Control for a CPA Firm's Accounting and Auditing Practice is intended to help practitioners better understand and apply Statement on Quality Control Standards (SQCS) No. 8, A Firm’s System of Quality Control (Redrafted) (AICPA, Professional Standards, QC sec. 10). SQCS No. 8 is included as appendix A of this Practice Aid.. 

Peer Review Checklists: The AICPA also issues various not-for-profit and governmental related peer review checklists that are available for your use to help improve audit quality.

Governance-Related Issuances

The Audit Committee Toolkit: Government Organizations and the Audit Committee Toolkit: Not-for-Profit Organizations were developed to help audit committees at all levels of government and not-for-profit organizations discharge their responsibilities appropriately and effectively. While intended for audit committees of governmental and not-for-profit organizations and management of those organizations, auditors may find the Toolkits useful in discussing governance issues with their clients. The AICPA Audit Committee Effectiveness Center contains additional an additional Toolkit for Corporations. 

The Audit Committee Matching System (ACMS) was created in response to the continued interest in strong corporate governance and the need at public companies, privately-held companies, not-for-profit, and government organizations to include people on their boards and audit committees that have expertise in financial matters. ACMS is available to AICPA members to register their willingness to be part of an audit committee and to organizations searching for a qualified person to serve on its board or audit committee.