Evolving Guidance: Recent Developments in Auditing Standards

This chapter provides insight into the recent developments in auditing standards. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in the last several years has issued 24 new statements on auditing standards (SASs). This chapter presents a brief overview of the standards and considers the impact of these standards on generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS) and related government accountability office (GAO) and office of management and budget (OMB) guidance. It is observed in this chapter that experienced government auditors should be very familiar with the requirement to follow a risk‐based audit approach. The use of very similar terms has been part of GAGAS for a long time and predates the issuance of SAS 102. It is important to consider that the absence of a need to comply with an unconditional requirement may not relieve the auditor from documenting the execution of the requirement.