Center

for Audit

Excellence

U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

October 2022
GAO's Center for Audit Excellence (CAE) was 

established by the U.S. Congress to promote 

good governance in the U.S. and throughout 

the world. CAE offers high-quality audit 

training and technical assistance to domestic 

and international accountability organizations

on a fee-basis.

 highly-experienced managers 

and senior executives who retired from the 

U.S. Government Accountability Office 

(GAO) or other U.S. government employment, 

CAE's expertise ranges from planning 

performance and financial audits, to 

implementing audit methodologies, to 

analyzing and communicating audit results.

in a wide range of topics, 

taught by leaders in the 

audit community. CAE’s 

instructors have an 

average of over

in the United States and across the globe.

at the federal, state, local 

and international level,

in total serving over

and hands-on experience 

in their fields, and have 

provided training, 

mentoring or development 

services to an estimated Techniques for successful 

audit planning

Data analytics

Performance audit 

methodologies

Eectively leading audits

Creating highperforming teams

Reviewing draft reports

Applying federal internal 

control standards

CAE sta meets 

with the prospective 

client to discuss its 

needs and desired 

timeframes.

1. CAE incorporates 

frequent interaction to 

adjust services as 

needed to ensure 

high-quality outcomes.

2. CAE engages in open

dialogue to finalize an

approach and associated

costs that meet the

client’s needs.

3.

CAE uses an interactive 

approach to provide highquality, client-focused services.

to diagnose organizational capacity

(o-the-shelf and customized) based on relevant

audit standards and best practices to enhance

sta audit skills

to strengthen organizational capacity and 

policy development and implementation

to enhance organizational leadership and 

audit team performance

CAE serves numerous 

accountability organizations, 

both domestically and 

internationally. CAE is proud 

to serve many repeat clients, 

further strengthening its 

relationship with the 

accountability community.

90+ Domestic

Accountability

Organizations
“As a result of the training, we have had internal discussions on areas where we can 

improve our process.”

“We are coming back for four more classes because this class has changed the 

dialogue of how we review reports and communicate with each other. We expect the 

training to have significant impact on the quality and speediness of their review 

process. The cost is a drop in the bucket compared to the positive impact it will have”. 

“This course was a great introduction to key considerations for using data in a 

research project, an audit, or an evaluation. The handouts were useful and I've 

already used them to guide me in my job.”

“The course is very much related to my work as an external auditor, and I have 

learned a lot during the duration of the seminar.”

441 G St. NW

Washington, D.C. 20548

https://www.gao.gov/about/what-gao-does/audit-role/cae

centerforauditexcellence@gao.gov

(202) 512-7100

to learn more about 

GAO’s Center for 

Audit Excellence.