Regression Analysis As An Audit Tool: A Case Study

Describes an auditing situation in which GAO's Kansas City Regional Office staff used regression analysis to confirm its questioning of an agency position regarding the degree of urgency involved in the need for upgrading municipal sewage treatment facilities along the Missouri River. Officials of the Environmental Protection Agency favored immediate action. Many state and local officials believed that upgrading municipal sewage treatment facilities would have little impact on Missouri River water quality and that available water pollution abatement funds should be applied to other measures which state and local officials thought offered greater water quality benefits. GAO's review was primarily directed toward evaluating whether it would be to the advantage of the Federal Government to invest available funds in upgrading sewage treatment plants or to invest in other pollution abatement projects preferred by state and local officials. The review involved the main stem of the Missouri River from Gavin's Point, South Dakota, to St. Louis, Missouri.