Each year the Washington State Auditor's Office issues approximately 1,300 audit reports on state agencies and local governments. In this broad sense, many different types of audits are commonly encountered in the public sector. The following text explains the types commonly performed by the State Auditor's Office. The auditor provides users with an independent basis for relying upon management's assertions concerning the government's financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
Auditors collect evidence needed to attest to the fairness of management's assertions.
This can be done by inspection, observation, inquiry, and confirmation from third parties. Often, this assistance is provided by several different grantor agencies. These audits replaced multiple audits performed by individual grantors. Single Audits place special testing and reporting responsibilities upon auditors of federal financial assistance. The auditor must obtain reasonable assurance that governments have complied with laws and regulations that could affect the allowability of federal assistance program expenditures.