Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.

This book addresses a longstanding issue that emerged fifty years ago and continues to persist– the lack of an accounting and reporting system for financial sustainability. Consequently, the primary aim of this book is to develop a novel accounting and reporting system for measuring and reporting long-term financial sustainability in the public sector. The significance of this book lies in its introduction of an innovative role within the field of accounting. This role entails providing guidance and issuing alerts to governments regarding essential adjustments needed in current policies to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of governmental entities. Through elucidating the prospective trajectory of public finance within the ongoing implementation of current policies, this approach functions as an early warning system for governments and empowering them to proactively modify their policies and transition from unsustainable scenarios to sustainable ones. The primary audience for this book includes practitioners, academics, students, professional bodies, and various users of accounting information in the public sector, such as public managers and policymakers seeking accounting information for corrective measures. Additionally, international organizations like the IMF and World Bank, tasked with assessing countries' long-term financial sustainability, will find this work indispensable.