Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) Practice Exam 2025 – Your All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

A performance audit is designed to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of a program, as well as the extent to which it meets its stated objectives. This type of audit measures the actual performance of the program against specific criteria or benchmarks that have been established, enabling auditors to ascertain whether the resources are being used optimally and whether the intended goals are being achieved.

Performance audits focus not just on financial transactions, but also on the outcomes and impacts of programs, thereby providing valuable insights for stakeholders. They often involve various measures of success, such as cost-effectiveness, timeliness, and impact on the target population, which are critical in determining the overall success of government programs and initiatives. This approach directly aligns with the need for accountability in public sector management and helps ensure that taxpayer resources are being utilized effectively.

Other types of audits, such as compliance audits, primarily assess adherence to laws and regulations; operational audits may look at existing policies and procedures, often focusing more broadly on the operational processes rather than specific performance metrics; and forensic audits traditionally involve investigations into fraud or financial misconduct, which do not primarily focus on assessing program performance against objectives.