Wiley Federal Government Auditing: Laws, Regulations, Standards, Practices, and Sarbanes-Oxley, 2nd Edition

PREFACE

The last 35 years have significantly impacted Federal financial management, accounting and auditing. During this period significant changes were initiated within the Federal arena, including such seminal developments as the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of 1982 relating to internal control, Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 requiring audited financial statements, Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 providing statutory backing for basic financial and systems requirements, Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 addressing IT security and major revisions in 2004 to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) Circular A-123, Management’s Responsibility for Internal Control requiring separate management assertions for internal control over financial reporting. However, the numerous changes occurring within Federal guidance should not detract from the importance of other developments affecting financial management throughout every industry. In 1992 the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) issued its Internal Control—Integrated Framework, and in response to major financial scandals in the private sector Congress issued the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 (which in turn greatly influenced the issuance of the major revisions to Circular A-123 mentioned earlier).

The above requirements provide a statutory foundation for instilling sound financial management, internal control, and accounting discipline across the Federal Government. ...