News
Apr 11 2008
IG investigations save $16B in ’07
A new report shows the government’s inspectors general are producing better results, even as critics complain staffing and budgets at many IG offices fall short.
The report from the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, an interagency inspectors general group, reported that IGs in fiscal 2007 produced more than $16 billion in savings through audits and investigations that uncovered waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government programs and operations. Those investigations led to almost 9,000 successful prosecutions. Both statistics were increases over the 2006 figures.
But the numbers don’t explain whether IGs are having a deterrent effect on fraud and abuse: Higher levels of indictments and prosecutions might just mean IGs are getting better at their jobs. Clay Johnson, the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management, likened it to customs inspectors looking for contraband.
“If you find more this year, as opposed to last year, does that mean there’s more coming in? Or you’re doing a better job of finding it? I don’t know,” he told reporters in an April 8 conference call.
Johnson also discussed the budget and staffing levels at IG offices. A report released earlier this year by the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight suggested that about half of the government’s 64 inspectors general are underfunded. Thirty-two of those IGs have no more than 10 staffers; a handful have just two.
But Johnson disagreed with the POGO report, pointing to the increased results from audits and investigations as proof that the system works.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., S 1723, would require all IGs to submit budget requests directly to their agency heads, which would then be forwarded to OMB. McCaskill says explicit budget authorizations for all IGs would offer another degree of independence from the agency.
“It varies from department to department,” McCaskill told Federal Times last month, discussing how agency heads affect the budget process. “[But] some agency heads have seen the IG as the enemy.”
Johnson said he supports more transparent budget requests, as long as they’re made within the agency.
The PCIE report also highlighted a half-dozen major management challenges that agencies faced in 2007. Homeland security and disaster preparedness led the list, which also included human capital, information technology, procurement, accountability and financial management.
The PCIE elaborated on efforts to improve financial and IT management. According to the report, more than 350 IG staffers worked on IT issues, a $12 million investment. And the report credited IGs with helping agencies improve their financial practices. In 2007, for the third consecutive year, all major agencies submitted audited financial statements within 45 days after the end of the fiscal year.
“If you want to issue an audited financial statement within 45 days, you have to adopt new disciplines throughout the year,” said Johnson. “And the IGs, acting as auditors, monitor those disciplines throughout the year.”
The report from the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, an interagency inspectors general group, reported that IGs in fiscal 2007 produced more than $16 billion in savings through audits and investigations that uncovered waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government programs and operations. Those investigations led to almost 9,000 successful prosecutions. Both statistics were increases over the 2006 figures.
But the numbers don’t explain whether IGs are having a deterrent effect on fraud and abuse: Higher levels of indictments and prosecutions might just mean IGs are getting better at their jobs. Clay Johnson, the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management, likened it to customs inspectors looking for contraband.
“If you find more this year, as opposed to last year, does that mean there’s more coming in? Or you’re doing a better job of finding it? I don’t know,” he told reporters in an April 8 conference call.
Johnson also discussed the budget and staffing levels at IG offices. A report released earlier this year by the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight suggested that about half of the government’s 64 inspectors general are underfunded. Thirty-two of those IGs have no more than 10 staffers; a handful have just two.
But Johnson disagreed with the POGO report, pointing to the increased results from audits and investigations as proof that the system works.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., S 1723, would require all IGs to submit budget requests directly to their agency heads, which would then be forwarded to OMB. McCaskill says explicit budget authorizations for all IGs would offer another degree of independence from the agency.
“It varies from department to department,” McCaskill told Federal Times last month, discussing how agency heads affect the budget process. “[But] some agency heads have seen the IG as the enemy.”
Johnson said he supports more transparent budget requests, as long as they’re made within the agency.
The PCIE report also highlighted a half-dozen major management challenges that agencies faced in 2007. Homeland security and disaster preparedness led the list, which also included human capital, information technology, procurement, accountability and financial management.
The PCIE elaborated on efforts to improve financial and IT management. According to the report, more than 350 IG staffers worked on IT issues, a $12 million investment. And the report credited IGs with helping agencies improve their financial practices. In 2007, for the third consecutive year, all major agencies submitted audited financial statements within 45 days after the end of the fiscal year.
“If you want to issue an audited financial statement within 45 days, you have to adopt new disciplines throughout the year,” said Johnson. “And the IGs, acting as auditors, monitor those disciplines throughout the year.”
