1. The first reason for participating on a ALGA peer review is that you get to work with and meet interesting, even fun people. Now I know that ‘fun’ does not always leap to one’s mind when used with ‘auditor,’ but I have thoroughly enjoyed the people I have met during the reviews. During my first peer review, I worked with Richard Wallace from Jacksonville and Margaret Nielson from Austin. I learned a lot about auditing and other matters by working and socializing with them over the five days we were together. Richard has an extensive background in peer reviews--he participated in the first peer review sponsored by the National Association of State Auditors in 1983 and had been involved with three ALGA peer reviews before San Jose. Margaret, like myself, The Wonderful World of ALGA Peer Review Participation, or: How I Survived Eating The Love Boat with Richard Wallace was on her first peer review, but had extensive audit experience including stints with GAO and the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General. On my second review, I was paired with Sharon Erickson from San Jose. Again I learned a great deal by working with Sharon because we came from offices that approached our work in somewhat different ways.
2. Of course, it’s not only the members of the peer review team who are worth meeting. I also had the pleasure of meeting with the staff of the audit shops we reviewed. I learned a lot from San Jose’s Jerry Silva and Multnomah County’s Suzanne Flynn about the challenges of being, respectively, an appointed and elected head of an audit office.
3. Another benefit of participation is the opportunity it provides one to learn about how other audit shops do things. As I like to say, it’s a great opportunity to ‘steal’ good ideas to use in your own shop. I was intrigued by San Jose’s use of risk matrices and Multnomah County’s electronic work papers.
4. Working on a ALGA peer review team also helps you to understand what the Government Auditing Standards/Yellow Book really mean. It transforms them from dry abstractions to something more meaningful because during a review you have to determine whether an audit shop and its products comply with the standards. As someone who fell asleep during his introduction to the Yellow Book class at GAO, this is nothing short of amazing.
5. Another advantage of participation on a ALGA peer review is the opportunity it provides for you to see exactly what goes on during such a review. I believe the best way to learn how to prepare for a peer review is by working on one. This experience can be quite helpful for anyone who is contemplating whether to undergo a peer review and can significantly decrease the anxiety level associated with them.
6. Finally, your participation is a ‘quid pro quo.’ That is, if you want to have a ALGA review performed on your office, you must be willing to offer your services as a volunteer for a ALGA peer review of another office.
7. This one isn’t a reason yet, but it could be. I and many other ALGA members are hopeful that the Government Auditing Standards Board will respond favorably to ALGA’s request that participation on a ALGA peer review team be recognized as worthy of credits for Continuing Professional Education (CPEs).

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