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A87696 1 (2003-05-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadvtu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: £ ~G A O Comptroller General -Ac untaity *-Integrity - Reliability of the United States United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 May 20, 2003 Mr. James S. Gerson, Chair Auditing Standards Board Mr. Charles E. Landes, Director Audit and Attest Standards American Institute of Certified Public Accountants 1455 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20004 Subject: Exposure Draft of Proposed Statements on Auditing andAttestation Standards Related to Auditing and Reporting on an Entity's Internal Control Over Financial Reporting This letter provides the U.S. General Accounting Office's (GAO) response to your March 19, 2003, letter requesting GAO's input on the AICPA's March 18, 2003, exposure draft containing three proposed standards for auditor reporting on internal control over financial reporting. We have long believed that auditors have an important role in providing an opinion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. For many years now, we have provided opinions on internal control effectiveness because of the importance of internal control to protecting the public's interest. For financial statement audits that we conduct-which include the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements, the financial statements of the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Schedules of Federal Debt managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt, and numerous small entities' operations and funds-we issue a separate opinion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Our reports have engendered major improvements in internal control. As you might expect, as part of the annual audit of our own financial statements, we practice what we recommend to others and contract with an independent public accounting firm for both an opinion on our financial statements and an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Current guidance for audits of government agencies and programs requires auditor reporting on internal control, but not at the level of providing an opinion on internal control effectiveness. Our goal is to lead the way in establishing the appropriate level of auditor reporting on internal control for federal agencies, programs, and entities receiving significant amounts of federal funding.

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