AGA NLT 2026

Kristen Kociolek
Director
GAO


Kristen Kociolek is the Managing Director of GAO's Financial Management and Assurance team. The team supports Congress by conducting financial audits of various federal entities and the U.S. government; maintaining federal auditing and internal control standards; and reporting on issues such as governmentwide improper payments, federal data transparency, federal financial systems, and financial management concerns at the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and various other federal entities. Kristen joined GAO in 2002 and has led large, complex financial audits, including those of the SEC and FDIC. She also led the 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book) and the 2014 revision of Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (Green Book). More recently, Kristen led performance audits on DOD financial management issues including audits of DOD’s F-35 program, government assets held by DOD contractors, and the valuation of DOD assets provided to Ukraine. Prior to joining GAO, Kristen was an audit manager at Ernst & Young where her work focused on audits of state and local governments. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has served on AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board and Government Performance and Accountability Committee. Kristen earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Elizabethtown College and is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Government Financial Manager.

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