What is the comment or opinion on the quote? Please contribute to the discussion by raising thoughtful questions, analyze relevant issues, build on ideas from the quote, synthesize across readings and discussions, expanding the class' perspective, and appropriately challenging assumptions and perspectives.

"Upon reading the text (Ives & Hancox 2014) I was struck by the example they gave of Washington state in which the state was absent the authority to do performance auditing. Now, I as a taxpayer want to know if my taxes are being used as the text describes as effectively, efficiently, in compliance with laws, and with proper internal control. If I were living in a state that did not have that assurance, I would feel very shortchanged. So, a major reason to have auditing standards is to make sure that me and my neighbors in another state are getting adequate and equal representation from our state auditors. If my neighbor's state can provide police and fire safety performance audits that develops a sense of safety and security that my state cannot, it would be tempting to try and raise the performance of my state or move to the neighboring state. 

Auditing standards also provide comparability. Your state or local government may be performing very well, but if you are able to compare those audits to a state or local government that is doing just as well more economically, wouldn't that be valuable information. In the same light, if two governments were spending similar budgets, but one state was outperforming the other it could also be a lesson learned on how to be more effective with the taxpayers money. 

Auditing standards are of great benefit to the taxpayer by allowing them equitable and comparable treatment to other taxpayers in different locations."