Preparing for the Agency’s Future, Part 5

Assignment 1: Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Shahin Alakbarov

Strayer University

Prof. Dr. Mark Pantaleo

PAD 530

January 21, 2014

Introduction

Government Accountancy Office was created in 1921 and it was called General Accounting Office. Government responsibilities such as auditing, accounting, and claims were transferred from the treasury to the Government Accountancy Office through budget and accounting act. The government was prompted to create this agency because after the First World War, federal financial management was in a bad position. The war drove the government debt to high level, this call for a need to create an agency that could provide more information and better control of federal government expenditure. The agency is independent from executive and it has the powers to investigate how the government funds are spent. The agency has been trying to improve accountability in government by alerting the law makers and citizens on areas where they suspect there is a problem. For example in 1980s, they discovered problems that were brewing in the savings and loans sector and they warn the government on its failure to control deficit spending. In 2009, their investigations disclosed that 40 percent of the weapons send by U.S government to Afghanistan government were missing because of lapses in the government inventory records.

The agency mission is to help the congress in achieving its constitutional obligations and assists in improving its performance and ensures that there is accountability in government for the benefits of U.S citizens. The agency provides congress with information at the right time that is objective, fact based and non partisan. The organization objectives is to find out whether the taxpayers money are spent properly and they work with congress to ensure that government funds are spent effectively and efficiently. They investigate issues of illegal and improper activities in different departments, and report on the government departments’ progress towards achieving their programs and policies.

Agency functions

GOA office performs several functions to the government, the functions are auditing governments department to ensure that federal funds are being spend properly, they strengthen financial management, and perform policy analyses and outline options for congress consideration. On the matter of auditing, after every financial year, the agency obtains documents from different government departments and look into it if there has been misappropriation of funds. This is achieved through looking at the amount of money that was allocated and how it was spend. Where the money was spending, the agency certifies the work whether it was done in the right way. The offices that audit is normally done include Medicare, education, treasury, and many others. The second function is policy analyses. After carrying out the audit, the information they get assists the congress in making good policies. The agency offer recommendations that help in the improvement of economy and making running of the government efficient. The policies help the treasury in improving the budget and spending of tax payer’s money. The third function is strengthening financial management. The agency advised government agencies to modernize automated financial management systems and prepare the statements on a yearly basis. Following the advice, during the 1990s, many government departments move to computerized systems and nursing homes was greatly improved.

Agency news

The two biggest issues that is currently a threat to the agency personnel management is the cutting of its budget allocation by the congress. The congress only narrowly focus on the money that is used by the agency in running its affairs without the wider picture of the good work it is doing to oversight billions of dollars being that could be possibly be misappropriated by the federal government. The cutting of the funds first could demoralize the stuffs at the agency and they could act with less commitments leading to improper check of federal government expenditure. The reduction in the stuff could also lead to serious back lock of auditing and overall review of expenditures activity. The fewer workforces could be overworked and they could do little to check millions of federal government’s transactions. This cut in stuff will also lead to uncertainty in the agency and workers will feel more unsecured given that their survival will depend on the congress. These agency congress relations will make agency act only on the interest of the congress if it perceives that going against the congress wishes is critical to its existence and survival. The role of the agency was to supervise federal government and in this case it appears that in its supervisory role it is also being supervised by the congress. The independence of the agency is crucial to its personnel management and for it to be in a better position the independence of the agency from both the executive and the congress should be upheld.

Rationale for Selecting Agency

The agency is bipartisan and the criteria for selection is said to be non partisan. The agency was set up by the congress in order to work for them in checking the government spending. The head who is the comptroller general of the United States is appointed by the president and it takes 15 years term in office. These 15 years a term is critical because it acts as a security for the job hence increasing the comptroller general confidence. The list of candidates is handed to the president and this is a test for bipartisanship in the process because the president picks the candidate of his choice. The reason for the list of candidates is a justifiable criterion because it makes the process Independent of each other. The president picks his choice from a list of congress and president can’t be blamed for partisanship because the list of candidates is not his. Hiring of stuffs is though independent and the applicants are thoroughly vetted in order to get the best brains in the sector.

Although GAO does serve as the lead auditor of the U.S. government’s consolidated financial statements, financial audits are only about 15 percent of GAO’s current workload. Most of the agency’s work involves program evaluations, policy analyses, and legal opinions and decisions on a broad range of government programs and activities both at home and abroad. The reduced audit work being carried out by the agency have made it difficult to fully check the federal government’s spending leaving a room for the misappropriation for funds.

References

Government Accountability Office (GAO) (2014): from http://www.allgov.com/departments/legislative-branch/government-accountability-office-gao?agencyid=7226

Kraljic, D. (2014). What Is the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from https://www.votetocracy.com/blog/what-is-the-government-accountability-office-gao

Legal Information Institute: (1992) 31 U.S. Code § 702 - Government Accountability Office, from http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/702

U.S. General Accounting Office (2002): The Role of GAO in Assisting Congressional Oversight from http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-816T