About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

A88274 1 (2003-05-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadvtx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: i . .... . Comptroller General Acco untabilty * Integrity Reliability of the United States United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 May 20, 2003 Mr. Urton Anderson Chairman, Internal Auditing Standards Board The Institute of Internal Auditors Global Practices Center, Technical Services ED-03S1 247 Maitland Avenue Altamonte Springs, F1 32701-4201 Subject: Exposure Draft ofProposed New and Amended Standards for the Professional Practice of InternalAuditing Dear Mr. Anderson: This letter provides the U.S. General Accounting Office's (GAO) input on the Institute of Internal Auditors' (IIA) January 15, 2003, exposure draft containing proposed new and amended standards for internal auditors. We compliment the IIA's efforts to enhance the guidance and clarity of the professional standards, and we believe that the IIA proposals to strengthen the standards in the areas of information technology and governance are especially important. GAO also supports the IIA's efforts to more clearly distinguish assurance services from consulting services. At the same, we believe that the use of the term consulting services to cover internal audit work other than assurance services is problematic. The term consulting provides a connotation that the internal auditor may not be independent. We recommend that IIA consider using other terminology such as performance audits or constructive engagements to describe the work that it now labels as consulting to more accurately depict the nature of this work. We realize that this is a significant recommendation and that the IIA may need to consider this as a separate proposal, but we urge the IIA to consider such changes. As a result of recent, high profile breakdowns in auditing and corporate governance, there has been widespread realization that, in many cases, it is not appropriate for an auditor to provide both audit and certain non-audit (consulting) services for the same client. Prior to the recent, high profile problems in the profession, GAO had begun work in this area and issued its revised independence standards in January 2002. GAO's standards emphasize overarching principles and safeguards that auditors should follow related to nonaudit, or consulting services, in order to maintain independence to provide audit services. 'GovernmentAuditing Standards: Amendment No. 3, Independence. (GAO-02-388G, January 2002).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most