Compliance With Professional Standards by the Commerce Inspector General

GAO reviewed the Department of Commerce Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) compliance with professional standards to determine whether: (1) audits were conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards; (2) investigations were performed in compliance with professional standards; and (3) inspections complied with the Inspector General's (IG) own policies and procedures for documenting observations and recommendations contained in inspection reports.

GAO found that: (1) the IG audit function satisfactorily complied with the professional standards in the areas of staff qualifications, organizational and external impairments to independence, and fraud and abuse, but corrective action was needed in the areas of supervision, internal controls, and audit follow-up; and (2) the quality control system did not adequately communicate to the audit staff the policies and procedures to be followed to ensure compliance with audit standards in certain areas. GAO also found that: (1) IG satisfactorily complied with professional investigative standards concerning staff qualifications, screening allegations, and the establishment of a quality assurance program, but needed to take corrective action in the areas of preserving confidentiality, planning, and reporting; (2) IG made a number of improvements in the inspection functions, but there were still some problems in documenting the inspection work; and (3) improvements were needed in the written quality control policies and procedures to ensure better compliance with professional standards.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: John J. Adair Team: General Accounting Office: Accounting and Financial Management Division Phone: (202) 275-9359