AICPA webcast spotlights 2026 state and local government audit planning

KPMG’s public-sector audit teams are heading into a year when planning mistakes will be expensive. The AICPA’s 2026 State and Local Government Audit Planning Considerations webcast is built around the point where many firms are already beginning fieldwork prep, and that timing matters because state and local government audits stack public accountability, grant compliance and specialized standards on top of the usual financial reporting pressure.

The webcast is a Governmental Audit Quality Center web event and a two-CPE-credit intermediate session focused on key audit and accounting developments for state and local government financial statement audits. It also pulls in members of the AICPA State and Local Government Expert Panel, which makes the session less like a generic update and more like a planning roadmap for what will slow teams down later if they do not address it now. The covered topics include current developments affecting SLG audits, important planning considerations, updates on recent audit, accounting and ethics standards, and emerging practice issues.

For KPMG, the immediate takeaway is practical: planning memos, engagement staffing and review timelines need to reflect the fact that government audits do not tolerate loose assumptions. Documentation around compliance, evidence and reporting has to be tighter, especially when federal funding rules or ethics questions enter the file. That is the kind of work where experienced managers and seniors can save hours downstream if they surface the risk areas before testing starts, rather than after the fieldwork calendar is already locked.

The broader regulatory backdrop makes that front-loading more urgent. The U.S. Government Accountability Office says the 2024 Yellow Book is effective for financial audits, attestation engagements and reviews of financial statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2025. GASB Statement No. 103 is effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2025. The Office of Management and Budget has also posted its 2025 Compliance Supplement for 2 CFR Part 200 Appendix XI, which means teams working on federally funded entities have another planning document to absorb before workpapers start to harden.

AICPA’s government-learning lineup shows the same message from another angle, with the 2026 State and Local Government Audit Planning Considerations listed alongside the 2026 Auditing State and Local Governments Lightning Round. For KPMG, where the firm says it has more than 3,000 public sector specialists and more than 100 years of experience with government organizations, the signal is clear: the firms that will move fastest in the 2026 cycle are the ones that treat government audit planning as an early warning system, not a housekeeping exercise.