Skip to main content

Inspectors General: Compliance With Professional Standards by the GSA Inspector General

AFMD-87-22 Published: Jul 20, 1987. Publicly Released: Jul 20, 1987.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

GAO reviewed the General Services Administration's (GSA) Office of Inspector General's (OIG) compliance with professional audit standards in conducting audits and investigations.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Sort descending Recommendation Status
Other To help ensure the quality of all OIG activities, the Inspector General should require the appraisal review team to conduct periodic assessments of all headquarters audit units.
Closed – Implemented
Subsequent to the GAO review, an OIG appraisal review team, headed by RIGA from Kansas City, conducted an efficiency review of all OIG headquarter units. Future reviews of headquarter units will be performed by the new OIG quality assessment group, reporting directly to IG.
Other To help ensure the quality of all OIG audit activities, the Inspector General should require the appraisal review team to conduct limited-scope reviews of the field office operations, such as reviews of the supervision and evidence problems disclosed in this chapter and in prior OIG appraisal review reports, in order to ascertain on a timely basis if those problems have been corrected.
Closed – Implemented
Subsequent to the GAO review, the OIG appraisal review team conducted a limited scope review of its San Francisco Regional Office to determine whether problems identified in a prior review had been corrected. Future limited scope reviews will be performed by the new OIG quality assessment group, reporting directly to IG.
Other To assist OIG in satisfactorily complying with certain aspects of the planning standard, the Inspector General should develop a written annual investigation plan, which specifies in more detail the goals, objectives, or tasks to be accomplished, and the benefits, accomplishments, or results to be derived from attaining goals.
Closed – Implemented
OIG established an annual national planning conference that addresses such issues as organizational effectiveness, risk assessment, audit-investigative relations, programs for proactive investigations, and productivity enhancement. Specific program areas, staff resources, regional office responsibilities, and operational priorities are included in the annual plan.
Other To improve the training program for OIG investigators, the Inspector General should include mandatory courses in fraud, procurement/contract fraud, and white-collar crime in investigators' training profiles.
Closed – Implemented
Every agent's training profile is reviewed by a senior manager to ensure that proper training is scheduled and received. In addition, OIG is assisting in the development of a specialized white-collar crime follow-up course to be held at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center with President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency endorsement.
Other To clarify OIG policy for retaining investigators' interview notes, the Inspector General should revise the existing policy to clearly require the retention of these notes in both criminal and noncriminal investigations.
Closed – Implemented
OIG policy has been revised to clarify requirements for retaining interview notes in both criminal and noncriminal investigations.
Other To assist OIG in satisfactorily complying with certain aspects of the audit standards, the Inspector General should emphasize to all OIG staff the importance of adhering to OIG policies and procedures for work-paper preparation and supervisory review of work papers.
Closed – Implemented
OIG has made compliance with professional standards a critical element in the performance plans of all audit managers and supervisory auditors, added a component on compliance with standards to all in-house audit training courses, and included compliance testing in the quality control program.
Other To assist OIG in satisfactorily complying with certain aspects of the audit standards, the Inspector General should revise OIG policies and procedures for referencing to include referencing of all contract audit reports.
Closed – Implemented
By memo dated July 16, 1987, OIG revised its procedures manual to require referencing of contract audit reports.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

Agency reportsAuditing standardsInspectors generalQuality assuranceReports managementGovernment auditing standardsAudit reportsInternal controlsQuality standardsAudit resolution