The success or failure of a Single Audit can usually be traced back to the planning phase . Planning procedures from risk assessments to major program determination to selecting applicable compliance requirements can set the audit team on the right path to proper engagement execution, if done well. If not done well, it can lead to nonconformity with professional standards and disciplinary action on engagement leaders. Please join us for this session as take a case study approach for what effective single audit planning should look like.

The AICPA Professional Ethics Division issued the State and Local Government Client Affiliates Interpretation to provide guidance to auditors of State and Local governments in evaluating  which entities are affiliates of those governments.  This session will go through the background of the interpretation, discuss examples of how affiliates would be evaluated using this interpretation, and preview some tools to assist in the evaluation.  

The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board marked its 30th anniversary and continues to actively pursue improvements to federal financial reporting. Attendees will learn about the challenging issues being addressed and have an opportunity to ask questions. Attendees will leave informed about:

• FASAB’s COVID-19-related efforts, including redesigning technical inquiry web page and developing new webinars
• What’s next for reporting on Leases, Land, Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), and FASAB’s conceptual Framework
• Reexamining existing standards for relevance, consistency, and usefulness
• Areas for improvement in the federal reporting model and principles that will guide future efforts
• Ongoing efforts in developing a federal agency training and outreach program to share the extensive library of authoritative standards the Board has produced and to assist agency personnel in navigating that guidance 

The 2018 Yellow Book revises the requirements on independence, especially as it relates to the performance of nonaudit services related to preparing accounting records and financial statements. This session will help you understand the new independence requirements.

Plain English writing is clear and concise, without being overly simplistic. It is the cornerstone of powerful communications and is therefore an important tool across professions and audiences. During the session, we will discuss ways to incorporate Plain English into a variety of communications, which will make your writing clearer and save you time. We will also touch on effective communication strategies for remote work, as many of us continue to adapt our day-to-day responsibilities to a virtual environment. This session is designed for those seeking to improve the efficiency of their internal and external communications.

This session will be an interactive session with the AICPA's Chief Auditor.  Included will be a discussion of what is driving the standard-setting agenda of the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board (ASB).  The session will focus on the impact of the current business environment and technology on auditing and attestation standards.  Also included will be an update on current ASB projects involving revisions to enable direct examination engagements pursuant to AICPA attestation standards, NOCLAR and quality control.

Enhanced oversight reviews performed by the AICPA as well as quality control reviews performed by auditors of the OIG have consistently cited poor documentation as a common finding in Single Audit engagements which have lead to conclusions of nonconformity. Audit teams can often orally recount the procedures they used and results of procedures, but their work often does not get fully captured. Please join us for this session as we examined this situation. We will look at root causes to poor documentation and then discuss tools and techniques to properly capture the hard work put into the audit process.

Accounting, financial reporting and auditing for GASB pension and OPEBs is a complex area.  This session covers common errors in accounting and financial reporting and tips for auditing the plans.