GAO Findings on Federal Internal Audit--A Summary

Federal internal audit organizations save the Government billions of dollars each year. However, not all of their work is as effective as it could be, and internal audit problems have kept the Government from realizing the full benefit of their work.

Problems in Federal audit organizations include: low priority on preventing and detecting fraud, insufficient financial auditing, inadequate and insufficient audits of grants and contracts, a need for more computer auditing, poor followup on findings, and insufficient staff. The establishment of the Inspector General Offices and other recent improvements have the potential to strengthen Government auditing, but it is too early to say whether their efforts will correct all deficiencies. GAO will continue to work with internal audit and Inspector General organizations and will advise Congress of any further actions needed to solve these problems.