Critical Thinking for the Federal Auditor
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validity of each explanation. The subsequent conscious elimination of explanations may help the auditor understand the relationship among various facts (Plumlee, Rixom, & Rosman, 2015). By participating in these tasks unrelated to the specifc audit, auditors have been shown to better prepare and trigger a critical thinking mindset. Federal oversight has also identified some practical remedies. In 2018, the GAO recommended that DoD develop strategy for how information related to commerciality and price reasonableness determinations could be shared across the department to improve procurement of commercial items (GAO, 2018a). TheNDAA directed practical critical thinkingwhen, in 2013, it provided for the access and review of auditee internal audit reports by federal auditors (GAO, 2014). The GAO recently recommended to the AICPA that coverage of GAGAS be expanded on the CPA exam in order to improve the quality of governmental audits (Dalkin, 2015). In 2016, the GAO recommended the practice of data analytics to the Department of Energy (GAO, 2017a). Other Suggestions for Improvements Federal auditors can ensure inclusion of specific recommendations for corrective action in the audit report, minimize the audit jargon that frustrates report recipients, and develop qualitative metrics that measure customer satisfaction. To curb the tendency to gravitate to unnecessarily conservative report opinions out of an abundance of caution, the GAO Yellow Book emphasis on the term efect should be referenced when selecting an audit opinion. Specifically, at SSAE No. 18 AT-C 205.A106, the auditor is advised to exercise professional judgment about the pervasiveness of the efects on the subject matter resulting from an inability to obtain sufcient appropriate evidence or fromauditeemisstatements (AICPA, 2017). Apractical example may be deliberation about the efect of an untimely receipt of a corporate allocations’ supporting audit when the supporting audit is known to be progressing and, historically, does not result in signifcant audit fndings. Auditors conducting GAGAS attestation engagement audits also need to be aware that changing audit standards can impact the nature and extent of auditing procedures. In 2011, the GAO made a signifcant change to the Yellow Book by introducing the term “by reference” at section 2.20a when incorporating the AICPA standards (GAO, 2011, para. 2.20a, p. 23). The term “by reference” had not been used in the predecessor 2007 YellowBook.
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Defense ARJ, January 2020, Vol. 27No. 1 : 2-26
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