The Government Accountability Office is a government agency that provides
auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the United States Congress.
It is the supreme audit institution of the federal government of the United
States. History
The GAO was established as the General Accounting Office by the Budget and
Accounting Act of 1921. The act required the head of the GAO to "investigate, at
the seat of government or elsewhere, all matters relating to the receipt,
disbursement, and application of public funds, and shall make to the President
... and to Congress ... reports [and] recommendations looking to greater
economy or efficiency in public expenditures". According to the GAO's
current mission statement, the agency exists to support the Congress in
meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the
performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government
for the benefit of the American people. The name was changed in 2004 to
Government Accountability Office by the GAO Human Capital Reform Act to better
reflect the mission of the office. While most other countries have government
entities similar to the GAO, their focus is primarily on conducting financial
audits. The GAO's auditors conduct not only financial audits, but also engage
in a wide assortment of performance audits.
Over the years, the GAO has been referred to as "The Congressional
Watchdog" and "The Taxpayers' Best Friend" for its frequent audits and
investigative reports that have uncovered waste and inefficiency in
government. News media often draw attention to the GAO's work by
publishing stories on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the
its reports. Members of Congress also frequently cite the GAO's work in
statements to the press, congressional hearings, and floor debates on proposed
legislation. In 2007 the Partnership for Public Service ranked the GAO second on
its list of the best places to work in the federal government and Washingtonian
magazine included the GAO on its 2007 list of great places to work in
Washington, a list that encompasses the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
The GAO is headed by the comptroller general of the U.S., a professional and
non-partisan position in the U.S. government. The comptroller general is
appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
for a 15-year, non-renewable term. The president selects a nominee from a list
of at least three individuals recommended by an eight-member
bipartisan, bicameral commission of congressional leaders. During such term,
the comptroller general has standing to pursue litigation to compel access to
federal agency information. The comptroller general may not be removed
by the president, but only by Congress through impeachment or joint resolution
for specific reasons. Since 1921, there have been only seven comptroller
generals, and no formal attempt has ever been made to remove a comptroller
general. Labor-management relations became
fractious during the 9-year tenure of the 7th comptroller general, David M.
Walker. On September 19, 2007, GAO analysts voted by a margin of two to
one, in a 75% turnout, to establish the first union in the GAO's 86-year
history. The analysts voted to affiliate with the International Federation of
Professional and Technical Engineers, a member union of the AFL-CIO. There are
more than 1,800 analysts in the GAO analysts bargaining unit; the local
voted to name itself IFPTE Local 1921, in honor of the date of the GAO's
establishment. On February 14, 2008, the GAO analysts' union approved its
first-ever negotiated pay contract with management; of just over 1,200 votes, 98
percent were in favor of the contract. The GAO also establishes standards for
audits of government organizations, programs, activities, and functions, and
of government assistance received by contractors, nonprofit organizations,
and other nongovernmental organizations. These standards, often referred to as
Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, are to be followed by
auditors and audit organizations when required by law, regulation, agreement,
contract, or policy. These standards pertain to auditors' professional
qualifications, the quality of audit effort, and the characteristics of
professional and meaningful audit reports.
In 1992 the GAO hosted XIV INCOSAI, the fourteenth triennial convention of the
International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.
In 2012, the GAO won the Ig Nobel Prize for literature for issuing an interim
report titled "Defense Management: Actions Needed to Evaluate the Impact of
Efforts to Estimate Costs of Reports and Studies", a follow-up on a previous
reports about the cost of reports and studies. Due to its nature of a specific
meta-study, the Ig Nobel Prize motivation described it as a "report
about the report about reports about reports".
Reports GAO is a United States government
electronic data provider, as all of its reports are available on its website,
except for certain reports whose distribution is limited to official use
in order to protect national and homeland security. The variety of topics
reported on range from Federal Budget and Fiscal Issues to Financial
Management, Education, Retirement Issues, Defense, Homeland Security,
Administration of Justice, Health Care, Information Management and Technology,
Natural Resources, Environment, International Affairs, Trade, Financial
Markets, Housing, Government Management and Human Capital. GAO often produces
highlights of its reports that serve as a statement for the record for various
subcommittees of the United States Congress.
Most GAO studies and reports are initiated by requests from members of
Congress, including requests mandated in statute, and so reflect concerns of
current political import, but many reports are issued periodically and take
a long view of U.S. agencies' operations. GAO also produces annual
reports on key issues such as Duplication and Cost savings and High
Risk Update. The GAO prepares some 900 reports
annually. GAO publishes reports and information relating to, inter alia:
= Financial Statements of the U.S. government =
Each year the GAO issues an audit report on the financial statements of the
United States Government. The 2010 Financial Report of the United States
Government was released on December 21, 2010. The accompanying press release
states that the GAO 'cannot render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated
financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread
material internal control weaknesses, significant uncertainties, and other
limitations'. = U.S. Public Debt =
As part of its initiative to advocate sustainability, the GAO publishes a
Federal Fiscal Outlook Report, as well as data relating to the deficit. The US
deficit is presented on a cash rather than accruals basis, although the GAO
notes that the accrual deficit 'provides more information on the longer-term
implications of the government's annual operations'. In FY 2010, the US federal
government had a net operating cost of $2,080 billion, although since this
includes accounting provisions, the cash deficit is $1,294 billion.
= Quinquennial Strategic Plan = The most recent GAO plan, for 2010-2015,
sets out four goals, namely to address: Current and Emerging Challenges to the
Well-being and Financial Security of the American People; Changing Security
Threats and the Challenges of Global Interdependence; Transformation of the
Federal Government to Address National Challenges; Maximization of the Value of
the GAO. Office of Special Investigations
The Office of Special Investigations is a specialized unit within the Government
Accountability Office, which was created to meet Congress's need for quick
responses to issues of serious wrongdoing involving federal matters.
GAO and Technology Assessment After the closing of the Office of
Technology Assessment in 1995, Congress directed GAO to conduct a technology
assessment pilot program. Between 2002 and 2006, four reports were completed–
use of biometrics for border security, cyber security for critical
infrastructure protection, technologies for protecting structures in wildland
fires, and cargo container security technologies. In the first report, GAO
found that while biometrics technologies could be used to secure the border, they
had limitations in fingerprinting and facial recognition systems. An immediate
impact of the report was a congressional testimony on the use of biometrics
which, in turn, helped to inform U.S. national security reform efforts. GAO
reports, which are made available to the public, have become essential vehicles
for understanding science and technology implications of policies considered by
the Congress. Since 2007, Congress has established a
permanent TA function within GAO. This new operational role augments GAO’s
performance audits related to S&T issues, including effectiveness and
efficiency of U.S. federal programs. In 2010, GAO joined European Parliamentary
Technology Assessment as an associate member. In the last three years, GAO has
completed TA reports on three topics, the most recent one being released in
2011 – rail security, climate engineering, and alternate neutron
detectors. In the climate engineering report, Congress requested GAO to
examine three areas: the current S&T state of climate engineering, views of
experts on the future of climate engineering research, and potential
public responses to climate engineering. When the GAO receives a request to
conduct TA, it follows five phases: Acceptance, Planning, Data Gathering and
Analysis, Product development and Distribution and Results. Phases one and
two include selecting the topic and initiating the TA plan while the other
ones are respectively: conducting TA, followed by developing the report and
ensuring its accuracy and integrity, and finally receiving feedback from Congress
and developing lessons learned to enhance the TA process.
The GAO describes the TA as providing "thorough and balanced analysis of
critical technological innovations that affect our society, the environment, and
the economy" explaining "the consequences that each featured
technology will have on federal agencies and departments, and their wider impacts
on American society". This broad working definition enables GAO analysts to
utilize TA as a tool for policy analysis. Technology assessments at GAO
are conducted in accordance with GAO’s quality assurance framework. GAO
initiates technology assessments through congressional mandates, requests from
congressional leaders, and through the authority of U.S. Comptroller General.
The Technology Assessment section of GAO's website offers latest TA reports
and videos. See also
Title 4 of the Code of Federal Regulations
= Offices = Comptroller and Auditor General
Comptroller Inspector General
Auditor general Director of audit
Treasurer Corporate title
= Non-governmental organizations = Government Accountability Project
Project On Government Oversight = Audit =
Auditor independence Negative assurance
Positive assurance = International =
Australia: Australian National Audit Office
Brazil: Court of Accounts of the Union Botswana: Office of the Auditor General
Botswana Canada: Auditor General of Canada
Europe: Court of Auditors Hong Kong: Director of Audit of Hong
Kong India: Comptroller and Auditor General
of India Mexico: Auditoría Superior de la
Federación Philippines: Commission on Audit
United Kingdom: National Audit Office References
External links GAO homepage
GAO name change General Accounting Office Reports, on
the website of the Federation of American Scientists
^ United States Congress. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs. Government Accountability Office Improvement Act.
Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 2013. pp. 113–128.
Retrieved on September 28, 2015