Sample Size Calculator for Government

Sampling Considerations for Government

Government and public sector audits have a dual objective: providing an opinion on the financial statements and assessing compliance with laws, regulations, and budget appropriations. Sampling design must address both objectives. Expenditure populations are typically very large, and public accountability demands high confidence levels that translate to larger sample sizes.

Sampling focus: Government

Expenditure sampling is the primary focus of government audits. MUS applied to the population of payments and commitments ensures coverage of the largest expenditures, while attribute sampling is used to test compliance with procurement regulations, approval hierarchies, and budget authority. Revenue sampling focuses on tax or fee collection accuracy and completeness.

Key sampling considerations

Compliance testing requires attribute sampling with defined confidence levels — regulators and oversight bodies often specify minimum sample sizes or confidence levels for compliance audit work.

Procurement regulation compliance should be tested using a separate sample — verify that competitive bidding thresholds, approval requirements, and contract award procedures were followed.

Budget appropriation compliance requires testing that expenditure does not exceed authorised amounts at the appropriation level — sample transactions across budget lines.

Grant programme expenditure passed through to sub-recipients should be sampled to verify that the sub-recipient met eligibility requirements and programme conditions.

Payroll is often the largest expenditure category — sample employee records to verify existence, pay rate authorisation, and correct classification between departments and programmes.