Need for Additional Internal Audit Coverage in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) internal audit staff has been reduced by 50 percent since 1967. The reduced audit staff has been unable to adequately audit internal operations at headquarters and several field centers and component installations. NASA carries out its mission primarily through research and development contracts with industry which are audited by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). NASA Office of Audit reviews DCAA work and conducts its own audits of NASA in-house research and development.

The NASA internal audit function is geographically decentralized, with about 90 percent of the auditors located in regional offices. The Office of Audit issued 232 reports during fiscal years 1974 through 1976, of which 39 were on imprest funds and required only a few days to complete. Of the remaining reports, 50 were financial and 36 others included some aspects of financial operations. Audit coverage at each field center varied substantially and audit coverage at headquarters was generally lacking. With the exception of imprest fund audit reports, only three reports were issued during the period on headquarters activities. No reviews were made of the financial management control system, payroll system, property, accounts receivable, administrative control of funds, or the validity of financial reports required to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget or the Treasury Department.

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.

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