Availability of Program-Specific Audit Guides

In many cases, a federal agency's Office of Inspector General will have issued a program-specific audit guide that provides guidance on internal control, compliance requirements, suggested audit procedures, and audit reporting requirements for a particular federal program. The auditor should contact the Office of Inspector General of the federal agency to determine whether such a guide is available and current. When a current program-specific audit guide is available, the auditor should follow Government Auditing Standards and the guide when performing a program-specific audit. However, if there have been significant changes made to a program’s compliance requirements and the related program-specific audit guide has not been updated with regard to the changes, the auditor should follow section 235 of Circular A–133 and the OMB Circular A–133 Compliance Supplement (Compliance Supplement) in lieu of an outdated guide. If a guide is current with regard to a program's compliance requirements but has not been updated to conform to current authoritative auditing standards and requirements, such as current revisions of generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) or (Government Auditing Standards), the auditor should follow current applicable professional standards and guidance in lieu of the outdated or inconsistent standards and guidance in the guide.

When a program-specific audit guide is not available, the auditee and the auditor have basically the same responsibilities for the federal program as they have for an audit of a major program in a single audit.