Guidelines for Preparation of Requests for Audit Proposals

Local governments are increasingly seeking the assistance of public accountants for audits in connection with their financial activities. The Western Intergovernmental Audit Forum, of which GAO is a non-voting member, prepared these guidelines to foster a reasonable degree of consistency between requests and responses, thus bringing about a closer matching of the auditing services required with those being offered. The guidelines are intended primarily for local government's use in connection with financial or compliance audits. Originally issued in June 1981, the guidelines were revised in February 1986 after the passage of the Single Audit Act of 1984, which emphasized the need to strengthen the audit activities of governmental units.