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GAO Revising the Green Book Standards for Internal Control

Posted on February 11, 2014
[Update (9/26/2014): The 2014 revision of the Green Book has now been issued. Read about it here.] Internal controls are the plans, methods, policies, and procedures organizations use to ensure that they are using their resources most effectively. GAO publishes Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (also known as the “Green Book”), which sets the internal control standards for federal agencies. Because we issued the most recent Green Book in 1999, we recognized the need to update the standards to address the ways the federal government has changed since then. We published a draft of the revised Green Book for review (the Exposure Draft) in September 2013. In addition, we established the Green Book Advisory Council to get opinions on the revisions from members of the intended user community of the Green Book. There are many ways to stay connected with the Green Book update: As we finalize the Green Book we plan to consider all comments received from the public as well as from the Green Book Advisory Council. GAO encourages all interested parties to comment on the Green Book Exposure Draft. We have extended the comment period to February 18, 2014, to allow time for any additional comments. We appreciate the time and effort of all those who have already done so.