Priority Open Recommendations: Securities and Exchange Commission
Fast Facts
Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to the recommendations where they can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.
This report outlines our 6 priority open recommendations for the Securities and Exchange Commission as of April 2019.
For example, developing a comprehensive workforce plan can help SEC hire and retain the right number of staff with the requisite skillsets for today and the future.
Since our previous letter in March 2018, SEC implemented 2 of our priority recommendations.
Graphic showing that this report discusses GAO's 2019 priority recommendations for the Securities and Exchange Commission
Highlights
What GAO Found
In March 2018, GAO identified 8 priority recommendations for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Since then, SEC has implemented 2 of those recommendations by, among other things, taking actions to conduct a skills gap analysis for five jobs to improve its training curriculum and strengthen its information security controls. We are not adding any new priority recommendations this year.
SEC's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.
Why GAO Did This Study
Priority open recommendations are GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such priority recommendations.
For more information, contact Lawrance Evans, Jr. at (202) 512-8678 or evansl@gao.gov.