IRS' Reorganization

GAO surveyed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) executives to determine their views concerning the impact of IRS reorganization, which was intended to improve managerial accountability, communications, and decisionmaking.

GAO found that: (1) 76 percent of the executives said that the new Senior Deputy Commissioner (SDC) position positively influenced the flow of information to field offices; (2) 79 percent of the respondents said that the new SDC position had a positive effect on IRS decisionmaking; (3) 77 percent of the respondents believed that another new Deputy Commissioner position helped improve decisions related to a business plan, and 90 percent believed that it helped the timeliness of selecting executive personnel; (4) 27 percent of the executives said that position had a positive effect on financial management decisionmaking, and 18 percent said it had a negative effect; (5) 50 percent of the respondents said that the reorganization slightly strengthened managerial accountability; (6) fewer than 25 percent believed that the reorganization improved IRS ability to hold managers accountable for performance or to establish effective unit performance goals; and (7) over 50 percent of the respondents said that IRS information resource management activities needed greater managerial accountability.