Audit Resolution

In response to a congressional request, GAO reported on the responsiveness of Department of Defense (DOD) management to recommendations contained in audit reports issued by the four central DOD audit organizations.

GAO found that: (1) DOD audit resolution systems have improved since the establishment of the DOD Office of Inspector General (OIG) in September 1982; (2) DOD management can increase audit benefits by taking prompt, responsive action on findings and recommendations it has agreed to implement, and ensuring that closed recommendations have in fact been implemented; (3) 45 recommendations that management had agreed to implement were open for at least 1 year and, in some instances, as much as 2 years after the scheduled implementation dates; (4) the potential monetary benefits of these open recommendations, reported at $363 million, were slowed and may even be lost as a result of implementation delays; (5) 84 percent of 377 Army, Air Force, and DOD OIG recommendations claimed to have been implemented were properly reported as being implemented, and the benefits expected were generally achieved; (6) for the remaining 16 percent, documentation in audit follow-up files did not support the decisions to close the recommendations; and (7) while 79 percent of 103 recommendations in Naval Audit Service follow-up audits were properly closed, the remaining 21 percent were closed without required corrective action.