. r

*. .. e: , i.i The

REVIEW

Contents Volume 18 Issue 2

1 From Our Briefcase Accounting Update GAO To Inventory Statutory Audit Requirements New Types of Reports on Financial Statements Recent Guidance Issued on Personal Financial Statements Governmental Accounting Standards Board Update GAO’s Work on Tax Administration Activities During 1981 Review Article on Silver Recovery Gets Recycled Joint Financial Management Improvement Program’s 1982 Accomplishments GAO’s 1982 Annual Report-Volumes I and I1 The Civil Rights Report and the Congressional Staff Journal

5 OnLocation GAO Staff Changes Regional Office Administrative Officers Confer Comptroller General Returns from International Tour GAO Reports Task Force Issues Recommendations Office of Foreign Visitors Hosts Many International Guests 8 Manager’s Corner

12 Topics in Evaluation ogs~t,1 Carl E. Wider

14 Looking South. The Latin America Branch

21 Vocational Education and the Robotics Revolution odsybd Patricia A. Cole

26 Auditing, Evaluation, and Management Improvement -The Canadian Experience cmb5 Roger L. Sperry

i GAO Reuiew/Spring 1983 .. 30 A Model for the Systematic Inkernal Evaluation of Ageney- wide Human Resource Development and Training Ga s3bv Bob Minick

85 GAO and the Aecsunting Profession 03 mb 5- Charles A. Bowsher

89 Relocating Witmesses: Necessary But Administratively Difficdt 62gbb Mark H. Ahrens and William J. Staab

'. 42 Measuring Studen&Academic Progress: A Case Study oa5qb 7 Frankie L. Fulton and Susan G. Stanley

46 A Week's Worth ad\~6v David G. Sapp

49 Legislative Developments aa,Fi~ y Judith Hatter

51 Reflections Diane E. Grant

57 GAO Staff Chamges

89 New Staff Members

60 Professional Activities

GAO Review/Spring 1983 OOPESS!! -We Goofed

Much to our chagrin, the last GAO page 52,where paragraphs describing Building, overlooking GAO. “From Review contained some obvious mis- top-level staff changes are printed where I sit, listing Dexter Peach as takes. Inadvertent placement of several twice, followed closely (actually pre- Assistant CG may be the publishing titles and paragraphs, combined with ceded) by page 50 where the Far East coup of the year. He certainly has the typographical errors and missing pages Branch is mistakenly listed as assist- qualifications to fill the job! If wisdom in certain copies, made the winter ing Paul Math in his article on shad- prevails, perhaps he may have that 1983 issue one of our “liveliest” to owing. Add to these errors a liberal, if chance. In fact, our readers can say date. Because of these goofs-described not ironic, sprinkling of typos, espe- they saw it first in the GAO Review!” below- many of our readers responded cially in Tom Pastore‘s article (pp. 24- ”My sources report that Dexter and with excellent constructive criticism 27) on the advantage of having basic the others affected by the mistakes (i.e., proofreading help). In fact, our typing skills. accepted our apologies with good humor. embarrassment had a positive result. The Responds I certainly hope so, because our rota- We learned that many people read the Editor ting Bob Hanlon to Detroit was probably Review closely as soon as they receive When informed of the errors, Editor not in his plans!” their copies! John Heller(recent1y retired from GAO) In a more serious tone, Heller added Apologies AU Around said,”Good grief!” He added, however, that the publishing checks on our last ”I always knew GAO Review readers issue were obviously not up to par. We The worst-offending errors are on could respond to a challenge. I am agree. The Review staff has developed page 53, where Dexter Peach’s title as especially pleased to see that, in my additional quality controls and will be director of the Resources, Community absence, the Review has taken some applying them from now on. Again, and Economic Development Division steps to test its audience. Thanks to our apologies to those affected by the was replaced with that of Assistant each of you who alerted our editorial mistakes in the winter 1983 Review Comptroller General, and page61, where staff about this issue’s goofs.“ and thanks to our readers, article and BobHanlon, regional manager in Denver, Heller then described his perception feature writers, and unit liaisons for and several staff members were shown of the major errors from his vantage your support. as moved to Detroit. Next in line was point on the 5th floor of the Metro

Page 50 The acknowledgmentof contributors to the Far East article which appears on page 50, column 3, should have preceded the article, “At Home and Abroad in Paradise GAO’s Far East Branch,” page 32

Page 52 Paragraphs describing top-level staff changes are printed twice.

Page 53 The title ”GAO’s Assistant Comptrol- lers General” should have been positioned under the pictures of Henry Eschwege and Francis X. Fee. J Dexter Peach‘s title is ”Director, Resources, Community

and Economic Development Division ”

Page 61 The heading “Detroit” printed in column 3 is misplaced. It should have appeared on page 62, preceding the name of William Laurie

iii GAO Review/Spring 1983 Prom Our Briefcase

GAO has recently completed a compilation of the financial state- ments of the United States Railway Association (AFMD-82-69) and a review of the financial statements of the Commodity Credit Corpora- t ion (CED-81-137).

Recent Guidance Issued on Personal Financial Statements

The AICPA has issued two pro- nouncements on personal financial statements. “Accounting and Finan- cial Reporting for Personal Finan- cial Statements,’’ AICPA Statement of Position 82-1, was issued on Oc- tober 1, 1982. This statement deals with preparing and presenting finan- cial statements of individuals or Accounting Update to existing legislation, including the groups of related individuals possibility of proposing some form (families). Personal financial GAO To Inventory of “cross-cutting” single entity statements assist individuals to for- audit legislation for all Federal mally organize and plan their finan- Statutory Audit assistance programs. Requirements cial affairs in general or may be used for specific purposes, such as New Types of Reports on obtaining credit, income tax plan- GAO is undertaking a project to Financial Statements identify the maze of audit require- ning, or retirement planning. “Personal Financial Statements- ments found in the nearly 1,000 Fed- Opinions and disclaimers of opin- Compilation, Review, and Audit,” a eral programs, projects, services, ion are not the only types of reports proposed guide issued on November and activities which provide assis- GAO issues on government corpora- 1,1982, discusses the scope of work tance or benefits to the public. GAO tions’ financial statements. GAO and form of report for an audit, re- studies have shown that these re- now also issues reports on financial view, or compilation of personal quirements have led to inconsisten- statement compilations and reviews. financial statements. cies, gaps, and duplications in audit In a compilation, the accountant coverage. The project will result in a presents information in financial For copies, or for further informa- tion, contact the AICPA, 1211 comprehensive inventory and analy- statement form which represents Avenue of the Americas, New York, sis of the statutory audit provisions management without undertaking pertaining to Federal financial as- to express any assurance on the NY 10036. sistance programs. statements. The accountant does The project will help GAO further not audit the statements and, ac- Governmental Accounting develop and advance the concept of cordingly, does not express an opin- Standards Board Update the single entity audit, which pro- ion or any other form of assurance vides for a financial and compliance on them. The Financial Accounting Foun- audit (including a comprehensive re- In a review, the accountant per- dation reached agreement in De- view of internal controls) of a single forms inquiry and analytical pro- cember 1982 with representatives of entity or organization rather than cedures that provide a reasonable State and local governmental orga- detailed audits for each separate basis for expressing certain limited nizations and the public accounting program involving financial assis- assurances. A review is more lim- profession regarding the establish- tance. The concept provides an im- ited in scope than an audit, so it ment of a Governmental Accounting proved audit base for performing ad- does not provide a basis for expres- Standards Board. The proposed ditional selective audits for detailed sion of an opinion regarding the fi- Board, which would establish compliance issues as well as to de- nancial statements taken as a whole. accounting and reporting require- termine economy and efficiency or The American Institute of Certified ments for State and local govern- program results. Public Accountants (AICPA) has ment, would be under the Founda- Identifying Federal audit require- issued several Statements on Stan- tion in the same respect as the ments will assist GAO as it con- dards for Accounting and Review existing Financial Accounting Stan- siders recommending amendments Services. dards Board, which establishes ac-

GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 From Our Briefcase

counting and reporting require- Although the annual tax adminis- lined in the proposal.” Dr. Kolin also ments for business. tration report is compiled primarily to expressed his interest in receiving In addition, a governmental ad- meet the Congress’ legislative man- any feasibility studies used in GAO. visory and oversight body to be date, it has also been useful for plan- The Review congratulates author known as the Governmental Ac- ning and managing GAO’s work in Orr and notes that the GAO reports counting Standards Advisory Coun- the tax area. For example, it has on which his article was based’ are cil would be established under the facilitated following up GAO recom- used as case-study material in Foundation. Approximately 20 orga- mendations and promoting GAO’s GAO’s entry-level training course. If nizations, including GAO, would be solutions for improving administra- you have additional ideas for Dr. invited to nominate Council tion of the Federal tax laws. In this Kolin to show his students “how to members. regard, the tax writing committees write on the job,” call Orr at (202) used the annual report in incor- 275-6547. If you want to begin a GAO porating several GAO recommenda- Review article of your own, contact GAO’s Work on Tax tions into the recently enacted Tax your unit liaison or any member of Administration Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act our editorial staff. ActivMes Daring 1981 of 1982. For more information, con- tact Johnny Finch, General Govern- Joint financial GAO has been auditing and report- ment Division, (202) 275-6407. Mamagememt ing on Federal tax administration ac- Review Articlle on Emprowemerit tivities, particularly at IRS, for the Program’s 1982 past decade. Prior to October 1977, Silver Recovery Gets GAO conducted its audits as an Reogeled Accomplishmemts agent of the Joint Committee on Tax- The GAO Review reaches several Under the Joint Financial Man- ation because the executive branch thousand academic, business, and did not recognize GAO’s authority to agement Improvement Program government readers in the United (JFMIP), the Comptroller General, independently access tax records for States and other countries, but we audit purposes. In October 1977, the the Secretary of the Treasury, the seldom receive their comments by Director of the Office of Manage- Congress passed Public Law 95-125, return mail. Thus, the editorial staff amending the Accounting and Audit- ment and Budget, and the Director was recently pleased to receive a of the Office of Personnel Manage- ing Act of 1950 to specifically give copy of a letter to one of our GAO independent access to tax ment are charged by the Budget and authors, Everette B. Orr, a senior Accounting Act of 1950 with improv- records to audit tax administration evaluator with the Procurement, activities. ing financial management practices Logistics and Readiness Division, throughout the Federal Govern- With the expanded access, the from Dr. Philip C. Kolin, Associate Congress required GAO to report an- ment. J FMI P’s executive director Professor of English at the Univer- Susumu Uyeda recently published nually to the tax writing and Govern- sity of Southern Mississippi. Dr. ment operations committees on the the program’s major accomplish- Kolin teaches technical writing and ments during fiscal year 1982 in results of GAO’s work in the tax area. was requesting to use Orr’s article The first four annual reports were JFMIP’s News Bulletin. (As a con- as a model of effective writing. Dr. tribution to paperwork reduction, issued, with limited distribution, as Kolin saw the article, “A Silver Mine letters to the House Committee on JFMIP will not be issuing an annual from Photographic Wastes,” in the report.) Ways and Means, the Senate Com- Winter 1982 Review and felt that it mittee on Finance, the Joint Commit- was a model proposal in article for- tee on Taxation, the Senate Commit- mat. He noted, “The article contains tee on Governmental Affairs, and the ’“Additional Precious Metals Can Be the main parts of any good pro- Recovered” (LCD-77-228, Dec 28, 1977). House Committee on Government posal-identification of a problem, “Civil Agencies Should Save Millions by Operations. Due to the popularity analysis of costs, and final justifica- Recovering Silver from Photographic and usefulness of past reports, the tion for adopting the methods out- Wastes” (PLRD 81 48, July 31, 1981) report on GAO’s 1981 work was issued as a blue-cover report and was more widely distributed than in the past. The report, which consists of eight enclosures, summarizes the results of GAO’s work during 1981, including the reports issued and testimonies delivered. It also sum- marizes the actions taken during the year on GAO’s recommendations by the Congress and IRS. In addition, the report inventories open recom- mendations to the Congress from reports issued before 1981. (See GAOIGGD-82-82, July 22, 1982.)

2 GAO Review/Spring 1983 On Location

GAO Staff Changes regional offices but also allows the AOs to be brought up to date on new In November 1982, Comptroller GAO policies and procedures affec- General Bowsher established a new ting administrative operations. Office of Quality Assurance and The AOs faced a full agenda and a named the first assistant regional rigorous schedule at the their No- manager for operations. In addition, vember meeting. One of the most the Resources, Community and Eco- important topics was the effect of nomic Development Division (RCED) “EWS”-electronic workstations- became the first GAO unit to have on the regional administrative both a deputy director for opera- staffs. The AOs shared ideas on im- . tions and a deputy director for plan- proving the quality of EWS training . ning and reporting. provided to users and making the The Office of Quality Assurance most effective use of the equip , will provide advice and guidance to ment. Ms. Rodock said a wealth of the Office of the Comptroller Gen- information was shared, and she ; era1 to help assure that GAO’s work noted that, after these conferences, and reporting are as relevant and everyone returns home exhausted, useful as possible. Ira Goldstein has but reinforced and prepared to per- been named director of the office. form more effectively. ~. , (Mr. Goldstein’s picture and bio- Administrative officers attending L,. .‘_...... * :. .+.- :, * , graphy appeared in the Summer included Eloise L. Robinson, Atlan- ...a I ’ .-. ._ - . , .C‘ ...... I __. 1982 issue of the Review.) At GAO, ta; Kathleen M. Sheehan, Boston; . e. ..- .. 1 . . ... : * , . .-,---- %-- :,- .__ Mr. Goldstein has worked with Lela M. Mitchell, ChicaQo; Carole L. Assistant Comptroller General Roby, Cincinnati; Christine M. Harry Havens in the area of block Nicoloff, Dallas; James L. Pendell, grants and recently chaired the Denver; Adrian V. Tokay, Detroit; Reports Task Force. Loren D. Silvey, Kansas City; Helen See this issue’s feature, “GAO M. Figlio, Los Angeles; Helen Kaiatt, Staff Changes,” for more news. New York; Selmer W. Garland, Nor- folk; Marilyn R. Fisher, Philadelphia; Regional Office Teresita C. Nolasco, San Francisco; Vickye J. Bell, Seattle; Elizabeth S. Administrative Chaszar, Washington; LaDonna A. Officers Confer Rodock and Patricia C. Graves, Of- fice of the Assistant Comptroller Administrative officers from General for Operations. GAO’s 15 regional offices met in Washington, D.C., in November 1982. Their goal was to identify and Comptroller General work out administrative problems that are common to all the regional Returns from offices and to achieve greater effec- International Tour tiveness in carrying out the ad- ministrative function. In early November 1982, Comp- The AOs’ first meeting, held in troller General Bowsher and Interna- San Francisco in 1975, was ar- tional Division (ID) director Frank ranged by Walter H. Henson, then Conahan returned from a 10-day deputy director for Field Operations tour of ID’S European Branch, Division and currently regional meetings with the Comptroller manager in Seattle. Since that time, General’s English and German the AOs have met in Washington, counterparts, and firsthand obser- D.C., so that various GAO staff of- vations of many activities reviewed fices, such as Personnel and Gen- by ID staff overseas. Mr. Bowsher eral Services and Controller, could participated in a number of brief- attend. Their participation is espe- ings and social events at GAO’s cially important, according to con- Frankfurt office, including the ference coordinator LaDonna branch’s awards ceremony. He also Rodock, because it not only helps to received briefings from GAO staff solve administrative problems in the working in London and Germany.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 5 On Location

During his tour of Europe, Comptroller General Bowsher visited GAO’s European Branch and made presentations for the branch‘s awards ceremony. Here, budget and travel assistant Louise Markray receives a Certificate of Merit from International Division director Frank Conahan (I) and Mr. Bowsher.

In London, Mr. Bowsher met with GAO Reports Task Highly skilled staff members are Gordon Downey, Auditor General required to produce excellent prod- and Comptroller of the United Force Pssues ucts. In the 1980’s, evaluating Kingdom, as well as with other of- Recommendatisms Govern ment programs requires ficials. In Frankfurt, the Comptroller staff to have a set of basic quan- General met with Karl Wittrock, The Reports Task Force’s report titative, design, and analytic skills, President of the German Federal on the quality, timeliness, and com- as well as a familiarity with ADP and Court of Audit. Mr. Bowsher also munication of GAO’s work was re- minimum skills in writing and basic visited sites of U.S. military opera- leased in November 1982, with GAO audit techniques. GAO’s staff tions in Germany and briefings on “striving for excellence” as its needs the right mixture if GAO is to State Department operations in the overall theme. Comptroller General produce excellent results. U.S. embassies in London and Bowsher established the task force Management must provide the Bonn. in April 1982 to find ways to com- tools and incentives. The emphasis Mr. Bowsher concluded his visit press the time between completing should be on procedures which to Europe with a speech before a an audit and sending the report build-in the assurance of quality joint meeting of the Association of draft to final processing. He later products rather than trying to iden- Government Accountants (AGA) and asked the task force to expand its tify and resolve problems after the the American Society of Military work to examine report timeliness fact. Management must provide the Comptrollers, on the challenges fac- and the related issues of product training, guidance, and incentives ing Government financial managers. quality, content, and productivity. that will foster excellence. The November report includes four We must communicate well. The recurring themes: results of GAO’s work must be Ed. note: A related speech by Mr. Product quality should be ex- presented in an excellent manner if Bowsher to the AGA Professional emplary. GAO is doing many things they are to realize their full poten- Development Conference in Denver well, in the view of both internal and tial. in June 1982 entitled “Wanted: Com- external sources. Too little of GAO’s Separate chapters of the task mitment and Leadership-The Chal- work, however, is exemplary, and force’s report focus on quality, time- lenge of the Eighties” as well as a too large a proportion fails to meet liness, and communications and question-and-answerperiod, is now GAO’s standards for acceptability. identify shortcomings, diagnose available on videotape from the GAO should strive to be much more underlying causes, and recommend AGA National Office, (703) 684-6931. than acceptable. corrective actions. A final chapter

(6 GAO Review/Spring 1983 On Location

TRENDS IN BUDGETED TRENDS IN ACTUAL JOB TlWES IOB TIMES .. .-

21

A two page spread taken from the GAO Task Force Report. on productivity proposes that GAO aware of the services provided by The office is also responsible for look at its productivity in terms of the Office of Foreign Visitor and In- developing the international Journal efficiency (the traditional input/ out- ternational Audit Organization Li- of Government Auditing and the put measure), quality, and time- aison (OFVIAOL). During fiscal year GAO Review, and for coordinating liness. After a comment period, the 1982, the staff hosted nearly 260 input on the GAO Annual Report. To report and staff comments will be visitors from approximately 35 dif- complement GAO's international transmitted to Mr. Bowsher for his ferent countries, including Canada, auditing role, OFVIAOL runs the an- consideration and action. Australia, Japan, People's Republic nual 3-month International Auditor The task force decided to try out of China, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Fellowship Program to train audit several of its own recommendations Sweden. Visitors may contact GAO executives from other countries in about communicating better, includ- through their embassies or United many of GAO's procedures for effi- ing making writerleditors and Nations-sponsored educational pro- ciency, economy, and effectiveness graphic designers integral members grams to plan their visit. work. OFVIAOL director Elaine Orr of the report preparation team. The The guests range from graduate and Assistant Comptroller General report itself features a simple cover, students at foreign universities to for Policy John Heller represent a three-column typeset format, and high-ranking audit officials, mem- GAO in several international the extensive use of graphics. bers of parliaments, or even foreign organizations. The most prominent We hope to feature a more de- ambassadors to this country. They of these is the International tailed article on the task force's all have in common an interest in Organization of Supreme Audit In- work in a future issue of the Review. GAO's work and how it may apply to stitutions, whose triennial con- In the interim, readers who have theirs. ference is being held in Manila in comments or suggestions on the The OFVIAOL coordinates with April 1983. If you would like to task force report may contact task GAO divisions, offices, and regional become more involved with hosting force director Ira Goldstein on (202) offices to contact knowledgeable international guests, call Alberta 275-4022. people to brief visitors on their Tropf, OFVIAOL administrative areas of interest. GAO staff assistant, at (202) 275-4707. Without Offioe of Foreign members in financial management, division and office assistance, this Visitors Hosts Many budgeting, program results audit- work cannot be accomplished effec- Im&ePHationaiG~~~&, ing, personnel, and military or fraud t ively. issue areas are often called- uDon-I to Many GAO employees are un- discuss their work.

GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 9 Manager’s Corner

This issue of “Manager’s Corner” creased, and employee morale suf- “ManageriallProfessional Produc- addresses the introduction of new fered. The information-age stage tivity.” By Harvey L. Poppel. Re- technology to the workplace. The (marked by the advent of the micro- viewed by Francis x. Fee, Assistant subject is especially timely, since computer) incorporates the best Comptroller General, Operations. electronic workstations are now be- aspects of earlier stages while in- ing introduced at GAO and will creasing the workload and effi- In this article, Harvey Poppel, sen- cause changes in how we organize ciency, and sustaining employee in- ior vice president of Booz-Allen and and do our work. terest. director of the firm’s Worldwide Members of the Senior Executive The graphics accompanying Giuli- Systems Practice, summarizes the Service have summarized several of ano’s article are illuminating as well results of a major survey done by the articles in the bibliography on as attractive. Several detailed il- the firm on the productivity of the new technology. Their comments lustrations show how changing managerial and professional staff in follow. Also included in this issue is workflow patterns can increase the private- and public-sector organiza- a bibliography of general interest to productivity of an office, and projec- tions. The study examined the pro- managers. tions are given of what the work- ductivity of 300 typical managers Please call Kathy Karlson at (202) place may be like in the not-too- and professionals, analyzing how 272-3475 if you have any question distant future. This article is worth- they spent their time and identifying about or suggestions for “Manager’s while reading for GAO management the productivity improvements that Corner.” and administrative personnel. were available through the use of newer, automated technologies. Ed. Note: The Winter 1983 issue of the Review featured a description of Ed. Note: We considered the follow- Mr. Poppel maintains that signifi- GAO’s electronic workstation tech- ing article especially pertinent to cant productivity improvement can nology in its “On Location” feature. GAO staff in view of the agency’s re- be made at the managerial and pro- cent acquisition of automated of- fessional levels through office “The Mechanization of Office fice equipment for its professional automation. He also identifies sev- Work.” By Vincent E. Giuliano. Re- and managerial staff around the eral actions that an organization viewed by Morton A. Myers, Direc- country. Noteworthy is the fact that can take to realize those productiv- tor, PAD. the same ingredients deemed so ne- ity gains. The results of the study cessary (in the article) to the suc- are summarized below. cessful introduction of automated Most of the office productivity im- As GAO continues to introduce office tools are now present at GAO provement efforts that had been un- electronic workstations and in- and are guiding its use of those dertaken to date have focused on in- crease word processing capabilities tools. A Steering Committee on Au- during the 1980’s, we need to be creasing the output of clerical and tomated Management Systems has aware of the implications involved support staff. However, with mount- been set up to direct the devel- in shifting from paper to electronics. ing demands on the time of manag- opment of a new internal adminis- In this article, author Vincent ers and professionals, much more trative management system and the Giuliano discusses change in the needs to be done to identify ways to introduction of electronic worksta- nature of office work, in the uses of use the skills and capabilities that tions to the professional and mana- information and communications, they bring to an organization. Until gerial staff. The committee advises and in the meaning of the office as a very recently, managers and profes- divisions and offices on the acquisi- particular place occupied during sionals, despite their mounting in- tion of new equipment and on train- certain hours-all in the context of formation needs, have had to rely on ing staff. Also, it has emphasized stages of office development. the same information resources- the need for top management to be pen, paper, typewriter-used in pre- Giuliano contends that the work- involved and committed to the new vious generations. The Booz-Allen place has evolved in three stages, technology. To date, new adminis- study showed that from 15 to 40 per- each characterized by its level of trative equipment has been in- cent of a manager’s or professional’s technology, personnel practices, troduced in all the GAO regional of- time was spent on activities they and worker-client relationships. The fices and in nearly all of its Wash- considered underproductive. This preindustrial stage developed in the ington divisions. The administrative category includes such activities as mid-19th century still exists in many staff has been trained to use the searching for information or people, small business organizations where new equipment and can increase its copying, scheduling, and traveling handling large or complex trans- proficiency by using equipment in a to or from meetings that could be actions is not required. The in- practice room in the Pension Build- avoided if more accurate and timely dustrial stage introduced the pro- ing. An extensive users’ manual for information was available. duction-line concept, in which tasks identifying the most appropriate use These timewasters were among were standardized. In this stage, of the equipment is being devel- the most vulnerable professional ac- problems developed as workload in- oped, as well. tivities that could be attacked with

8 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Manager’s Comer

the introduction of advanced tech- “Impact of New Electronic Technol- disciplines than they did 20 years nology. Booz-Allen found that man- ogy.” By Richard W. Riche. Re- ago. In the next few years, for exam- agers and professionals could save viewed by Richard L. Brown, Direc- ple, we can certainly expect to see approximately 15 percent of their tor, GS&C. significant change in the skills time by introducing more advanced needed by GAO auditors as a result technologies. Further, by providing Technological change is key- of changing electronic technology. such workers with more advanced punching its way into nearly every The work challenge facing us today technologies and equipment, the corner of our daily lives, from the is to develop a work force capable of quality of life of managers and pro- food we eat, the clothes we wear, supporting rapid technological fessionals increased significantly. cars we buy, even the job we do in changes in U.S. industries. Use of office automation resulted GAO. Richard W. Riche, in his arti- in improved quality of work output in cle entitled “Impact of New Elec- “Why Employment Relationships terms of substance, content, thought- tronic Technology,” discusses the Are Changing, and What You Can fulness, timeliness, and accuracy; effect of four major technological Do About Them.” By Frank T. Wydra. expanded the quantity of work out- changes on the U.S. work force. The Reviewed by Johnny Finch, Asso- put in that the manager and profes- changes are ciate Director, GGD. sional provided broader scope and microprocessors and microcom- coverage with a higher yield and ab- puters, If you want to remember today’s sorption rate; and reduced the input industrial robots, jobs, you’d better examine them time required to produce informa- telecommunications, and quickly. Frank Wydra, Vice Presi- tion needed for sound decisions. office automation. dent of Human Resources for Har- The article identifies several in- Mr. Riche contends that increased per Grace Hospitals in Detroit, says gredients required to take advan- use of technology generally means that the computer boom soon will tage of the productivity gains that improved productivity, although its make these jobs obsolete or at least were available through using more impact is felt in varying degrees in excitingly different. advanced technologies. different industries. This is par- Current strides in electronic tech- ticularly true in industries where User receptivity to new technol- nology are changing many aspects electronic technology can either ogy is not a major obstacle. Most of the work world. With so much replace employees doing routine senior executives interviewed by happening so fast, it is sometimes clerical or blue-collar tasks or make Booz-Allen have expressed a posi- difficult to understand what implica- their jobs more efficient. When it tive “gut feel” for the potential of tions these changes have for the comes to a professional’s use of the new, automated, office-support way we live and work. In this regard, tools. However, they have been electronic technology (such as Wydra’s article provides some good might be the case in GAO), produc- skeptical about how to translate the insight on what we can expect from potential benefits into a tangible tivity gains become less ‘clear. the computer revolution. Rather than streamlining jobs or return on investment. Booz-Allen As a basis for comparison, he as- found, however, that the average an- reducing workloads, modern tech- serts that the traditional employ- nology seems to provide profes- nual return on office automation in- ment relationship has certain char- vestments was well over 50 percent. sionals with new information and acteristics. The relationship The major obstacle, rather, seems the ability to perform tasks they becomes fixed in that both work and to be the magnitude of financial and have been unable to do before. In job continuity are assumed, with people resources needed to achieve fact, the number of clerical workers higher pay traded sometimes for in- in the United States has grown by widespread use. Some of the steps creased job security. Overall, the more than 9 million since 1960 and that must be taken to assure the relationship is one that attempts to success of new office technologies represents an additional 4 percent reduce risk for both the individual involve adequate planning, prior of the total work force. This in- and the organization. Within this small-scale testing; and the commit- crease is largely due to the fact that relationship, organizations that ment from senior management to the computer has enabled manag- reduce risk, that can generate work the success of the program. The pro- ers and other professionals to get for employees, and that can succeed gram can be administered by estab- reports and do analyses they could indefinitely are viewed as good lishing a top-level steering commit- never do before. This phenomenon employers. Employees who are loyal tee responsible for demonstrating has created a need for more clerical and cause few disruptions are workers to support increasing the new equipment and introducing viewed as good employees. The demands for information. it to the workplace. Often a lower prevailing norm is one of stability. level steering committee or a task In summary, the development of Wydra points out, however, that force is established to introduce electronic technology has created the traditional relationship is begin- and manage the actual demonstra- more jobs, although those jobs re- ning to change. The matrix organiza- tions themselves. quire a different set of skills and tion, for example, has introduced us

GAO Review/Spring 1983 9 Jlanager’s Corner

to a shifting organizational struc- tives of as much of the support work Is Manageable.” Personal Com- ture where a worker has multiple as possible allows them more time puting, 6, No. 2 (February 1982), bosses. Jobsharing, flextime, and to engage in pure management or 55-57, 140. problemsolving, thus resulting in other work scheduling practices are Guiliano, Vincent. “Teleworking: Fu- also providing alternatives to the improved productivity. ture Shock.” Telephony, 200, “nine-to-f ive” routine. With these Welch pinpoints the major factor No. 6 (February 9,1981), 56,58,60, changes have come new forms of that will determine the success of 62. organization, compensation, and this change to automation, namely communication; different kinds of the attention we pay to the human Guiliano, Vincent. “The Mechaniza- training; and new approaches to factor. He says that we need to be tion of Office Work.” Scientific administration of benefits. aware that solving the productivity American, 247, No. 3 (September The effect of these changes, problem in clerical work is not as 1982), 149-164. small though they presently are, simple as unplugging one machine warrants our examination to deter- and plugging in another. It is impor- Hoffman, Richard. “When the Boss mine if the trend will continue. tant that the skills, capabilities, and Gets a Computer.” Personal Com- Wydra says that the changes have emotions of the staff be considered puting, 6, No. 11 (November 1982), been made possible by advances in when deciding which type of equip- 128-130, 180-181. electronic technology-the com- ment would help in the automation Jackson, K. R. and D. Yerbury. “ln- puter and its ability to process and process. The author suggests that t roducing Technological Change: sort huge volumes of information. the equipment is available. How- A Case Study.” Australian Jour- He also predicts that the trend will ever, he says that people must adjust nal of Management, 6, No. 2 (De- continue because the increased effi- to these automated developments cember 1981), 59-79. ciency in travel time and energy, as and that the changing work force Madron, “Introducing New Tech- well as pressures to increase pro- and a trend toward unionization of R. ductivity, all provide economic in- clerical personnel also will affect nology: A Research Note.” Jour- centives to both employer and this adjustment. He contends that nal of General Management, 7, employee to continue innovation in these pressures will demand that No. 1 (Autumn 1981), 70-74. the employment relationship. One management come to grips with the Marchant, Janet. “The New Era of by one, these innovations will recast human factor and sharpen its Friendly Machines.” Canadian the relationship between employer human relations skills so that it can Business, 52, No. 8 (August 1979), and employee. respond more effectively to the 35-40. Wydra concludes that this change needs of the employees. Masterson, J. J. and G. Hayward. is inevitable because it promises To increase its consideration of “Adoption of Innovators: A Con- more efficiency than is available in the human factor even further, man- cept Attainment View.” Manage our present system. Greater employ- agement must increase its empha- menf Decision, 17, No. 4 (1979), ee independence, flexibility, par- sis on education and training to 284-294. ticipation, and self-reliance will lead keep abreast of progressive technol- to production of more goods and ogy and personnel trends. Riche, Richard W. “Impact of New services at lower costs. In sum, Electronic Technology.” Monthly Wydra believes that through elec- Introducing New Labor Review, 105, No. 3 (March tronic technology, the traditionally Technology 1982), 37-39. inefficient worker is about to Schramm, K. “Business Education become efficient. Curnow, R. “Where Is Microelectron- for the Future.” International ics Taking Us?” Personnel Man- Labor Review, 119, No. 1 (January- “Office Productivity Is an Eighties agement, 11, No. 9 (September February 1980), 115-127. Imperative.” By A. S. Welch. Re- 1979), 40-42. Weil, Henry. “Getting Comfortable viewed by A. F. Franklin, Director, with Computers.” US AIR, (Oc- OOHD. Dodd, John. “Robots: The New ‘Steel Collar’ Workers.” Personnel Jour- tober 1982), 96, 98, 101-103, 106. In this article, A. S. Welch main- nal, 60, No. 9 (September 1981), Welch, A. S. “Office Productivity Is tains that productivity in the office, 688-694. an Eighties Imperative.” Office, as it relates to clerical procedures, Eckert, Susan. ‘Continuous Tech- 93, No. 1 (January 1981), 128, 175. has not kept pace with other im- nological Advances Require Con- Wydra, Frank J. “Why Employment provements in productivity in other tinuing Employer Education.” Relationships Are Changing and areas. He points out that there is a Telephony, 201, No. 20 (November large gap between the equipment What You Can Do About Them.” 9, 1981), 26, 28, 33. Training, 18, No. 10 (October support for the clerical worker as 1981), 31-35. compared to that supporting other Evans, Alastair. “Framework for a functions. The author says that the Policy on New Technology.” Per- automation of clerical functions sonnel Managemenf, 13, No. 8 General IBibEography would permit administrative support (August 1981), 30-34. personnel to do just that: support Adkins, Lynn. “The High Cost of their supervisors. Relieving execu- Foster, Susan. “Technology Shock Employee Theft.” Dun’s Business

10 G.40 Review/Spring 1983 Manager’s Comer

Month, 120, No. 4 (October 1982), Review of Public Personnel Ad- Poppel, Harvey L. “Managerial Pro- 66-76. ministration.” 2, No. 3 (Summer fessional Productivity.” Outlook, 1982), 59-90. No. 3 (Fall-Winter 1982), 29-34. Beller, Andrea H. “Occupational Segregation by Sex: Determinants Jaap, Tom. “Trends in Management Reed, Leonard. “Bureaucrats 2, Pre- and Changes.” The Journal of Hu- Development: Introducing Theory sidents 0.” Harper’s, 265, No. man Resources, 17, No. 3 (Sum- ‘PI: A British Organizational 1590 (November 1982), 18-22. mer 1982), 371-392. Model.” Training and Develop- ment Journal, 36, No. 10 (October Ricks, Betty R. “Step Right Up- Briscoe, Dennis R. “Human Resource 1982), 57-60, 62. the Office of Today!” Manage- Management Has Come of Age.” ment World, 11, No. 10 (October Personnel Administrator, 27, No. Jones, Jay. “Write With the Active 1982), 13-15. 11 (November 1982), 75-77. Voice.” Supervisory Management, 27, No. 10 (October 1982), 40-43. Rothwell, Sheila. “Productivity Im- Burroughs, Julio D. “Pay Secrecy provement Through Reduced La- and Performance: The Psycholog- Joyce, William, John W. Slocum, Jr. bor Turnover.” Long Range Plan- ical Research.” Compensation and Mary Ann Von Glinow. “Per- ning, 15, No. 2 (April 1982), 67-76. Review, 14, No. 3 (Third Quarter son-Situation Interaction: Com- 1982), 44-54. peting Models of Fit.” Journal of Steger, Joseph A., George E. Man- ners, Jr. and Thomas W. Zim- Bushardt, Stephen C., Roy N. Moore Occupational Behaviour, 3, No. 4 (October 1982), 265-280. merer. “Following the Leader: and Sukumar C. Debnath. “Pick- How to Link Management Style to ing the Right Person for Your Kopelman, Richard E. and George 0. Subordinate Personal ities.” Mentor.” SAM Advanced Manage- Schneller IV. “A Mixed-Consequ- Management Review, 71, No. 10 ment Journal, 47, No. 3 (Summer ence System for Reducing Over- (October 1982), 22-28, 49-51. 1982), 46-51. time and Unscheduled Absences.” Journal of Organizational Behav- Uscher, Andrew R. “Information Fahs, Michael L. “Communication Budgeting-Another Revolution.” Strategies for Anticipating and ior Management, 3, No. 1 (Spring 1981), 17-28. The Bureaucrat, 11, No. 2 (Sum- Managing Conflict: Developing a mer 1982), 18-21. System of Positive Interaction.” Kotter, John P. “What Effective Gen- Personnel Administrator, 27, No. eral Managers Really Do.” Har- Wells, Ronald G. “Guidelines for Ef- 10 (October 1982), 28-34. vard Business Review, 60, No. 6 fective and Defensible Perfor- mance Appraisal Systems.” fer- Fiedler, Fred E. “Why Your Boss (November-Decem ber 1982), 156-167. sonnel Journal, 61, No. 10 (Oc- Makes You Feel Stupid.” Manage- tober 1982), 776-782. ment, 3, No. 2 (Spring 1982), 22-23. McDowell, Bruce D. “Deregulation: Effects on State and Local Gov- West, William F. “The Politics of Ad- Friend, Kenneth E. “Stress and Per- ministrative Rulemaking.” Public formance: Effects of Subjective ernments.” The Bureaucrat, 11, No. 2 (Summer 1982), 22-31. Administration Review, 42, No. 5 Work Load and Time Urgency.” (September-October 1982), 420- Personnel Psychology, 35, No. 3 Mahoney, Francis S. “Team Devel- 426. (1982), 623-633. opment, Part 7: Its Role at the Wood, Robert C. “A Productive Ap- Ganster, Daniel C., et al. “Managing Workplace.” Personnel, 59, No. 5 (September-October 1982), 52-59. proach to Work Performance.” Organizational Stress: A Field Ex- Inc., 4, No. 11 (November 1982), periment.’’ Journal of Applied Manz, Charles C. and Henry P. Sims, 130-132. Psychology, 67, No. 5 (1982), Jr. “The Potential for ‘Groupthink’ 533-542. in Autonomous Work Groups.” Ziegenfuss, James T., Jr. “Do Your Managers Think in Organizational Hurley, Charlotte. “Civil Service Re- Human Relations Journal, 35, NO. 9 (1982), 773-784. 3-D?” Sloan Management Review, form: An Annotated Bibliography.” 24, No. 1 (Fall 1982), 55-59.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 I1 Topics in Evaluation

CarlE. Wisler Mr. Wisler is an associate director in GAO’s Institute for Program Evaluation.

This issue’s topic is era1 sense, are necessary to human eontent analysis. interaction. Mass media communi- cations, government and business An SES contract, a description of transactions, and personal ex- a Federal education program, and changes all carry messages. Con- Alexander Pushkin’s novel Eugene tent analysis is a tool for drawing Onegin: what do they have in com- reliable and valid inferences about mon? Each has a message and has such messages. It is a tool which been examined by means of a tool has evolved over the last 80 years called content analysis. While re- and has been applied to many pur- cent columns of “Topics in Evalua- poses outside of evaluation. In this tion” have focused on evaluation article, we shall be primarily con- concepts, we turn now to a par- cerned with how to use content ticular technique for getting an- analysis to help evaluate govern- swers to certain evaluation ques- ment programs and policies. tions. Readers who wish to go Though the analysis of docu- beyond this brief overview should ments is our main concern, the obtain copies of the IPE Methodol- method is not limited to written ogy Transfer Paper entitled Content communications. Examples of the Analysis. wide variety of documents that GAO draws from in doing evaluations What Is Content include program descriptions (CED- Analysis? 82-52), insurance claims (CED-82- E8), safety condition reports (EMD- Messages, taken in the most gen- 81-log), and evaluation reports

12 GAO Review/Spring 1983

I Topics in Evaluation

(PAD-78-44). These and many other will be focused on learning the ex- with codebooks and trained in the forms of communication can be sys- tent to which property, in various procedures. Each team member tematically examined using content categories, is reported as stolen. reads a portion of sampled mate- analysis. The process involves five steps rials and codes each class of infor- The essence of content analysis common to all content analyses: mation. For such information as is the conversion of written informa- (1)choosing a sample of written reported stolen property, the coders tion into a form more conducive to material for the content analysis, (2) simply record a tally mark for each interpretation. For example, sup- selecting units of analysis, (3) devel- category observed. pose we were studying safety faults oping coding categories, (4) coding Once the sample of written mate- in nuclear power plants and wished the written material, and (5) ana- rial has been coded, it is ready for to know whether a reported fault lyzing and interpreting the coded in- analysis and interpretation. The varied by type of monitoring: self- formation. methods are standard data analysis report or independent inspection. The first step is to choose written techniques ranging from simple de- Content analysis could be applied material for analysis. The under- scriptive and inferential statistics to safety condition reports to writer’s files on all policyholders (see “Topics in Evaluation,” Fall classify faults, yielding a frequency will constitute the universe upon 1982) to more advanced procedures, count by fault type. Then, standard which the analysis will be based. such as log-linear models, for esti- statistical analyses could be per- Because the number of files is quite mating the relationships among formed to determine if certain kinds large, a sample must be chosen. The categorical variables. Because the of faults were more likely or less principles of statistical sampling for data analysis techniques are not likely with self-reporting or indepen- content analysis are the same as for unique to content analysis, ap- dent inspection. other methodologies and will be propriate methods can be found in In many content analyses, the considered outside the scope of this statistics texts and need not be aim is to convert messages from overview. covered here. written, narrative form into a quan- The next step is to select a unit of titative form that can be interpreted analysis. This means putting a The Reliability and by using common data analysis boundary around the written mate- methods. The challenge is to make rial to be coded. A policyholder’s Validity of Content the conversion in a reliable and valid claim for losses, a part of each file, Analysis way, a point we shall return to later. is a reasonable choice as the unit of analysis because it is a well-defined Content analysis may be con- Doing Content set of papers which almost certainly sidered a measurement process and Analysis describes the property in question. therefore the concerns we have Often in content analysis, the defini- about the quality of any measure- To illustrate the main steps in do- tion of a unit of analysis is more ment process will apply. Two in- ing a content analysis, we will use complicated than in this particular dicators of the quality of a measure- the Federal Crime Insurance Pro- example. ment process are reliability and gram (CED-82-68). The program of- The third step is to develop cate- validity. (See “Topics in Evaluation,” fers insurance against burglary, rob- gories for the conversion of informa- Summer 1982.) bery, theft, and similar crimes. In tion from policyholder files to quan- Reliability is an indicator of the 1981, 72,782 policies were in force, titative information. Such property extent to which the results of a mea- and $38.4 million was paid out in categories as jewelry, entertain- suring process are replicable. In claims. In the same year, premiums ment equipment, business machines, content analysis, if we repeat the totaled $13.1 million. The deficit of and retail goods are among the can- coding process using the same $25.3 million indicates the extent to didates. For the purpose of our ana- sample of material and the same which the program is subsidized by lysis, an important category is a no- definitions of categories, but use a transfers from another insurance claim for stolen property. Two prin- different team of coders, we are program. ciples which guide the development likely to get different results be- As part of our review of the pro- of categories are that the categories cause the coders will occasionally gram, suppose we want to know the be exhaustive of all possibilities make different judgments about probability of policyholders making and that no piece of information be how to categorize the written mate- claims on certain categories of coded into more than one category. rial. When differences are small, the property, given various character- The hard labor of content analysis reliability of the coding is said to be istics of the policyholders and loca- comes in the next step: coding the high. One of the reasons for having tions of property. If data are avail- written material. In our example, we codebooks and training coders is to able, statistical techniques can be have focused on only one class of achieve high reliability. Procedures used to estimate such probabilities. information-categories of property exist for making quantitative esti- Content analysis helps provide the reported stolen-but ordinarily a mates of the reliability of the coding necessary data by extracting it from content analysis applies to multiple process and should be applied written material by a process known classes of information. Typically, a before using the results of a content as coding. team of analysts undertakes the analysis. Using file information about the coding and, to ensure uniformity -~ 72,782 policyholders, our attention and accuracy, the team is furnished See TOPICS, p. 52

GAO Review/Spring 1983 13 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

Spanning the Panama Canal, the Bridge of the Americas joins North and South America.

Author F. Marvin Doyal would like provides a GAO presence in this in- northern and eastern limits of the to thank members of the Latin Amer- creasing ly important geographical Caribbean Sea. The physical ap- ica Branch staff for their assistance area. Through this article-profiling pearance of the land in this area with this article. LAB and its geographical area of varies greatly, from the Panama responsibility-we share a bit of the Canal crossing the continent at 85 Recently the United States has history, importance, and enjoyment feet above sea level to Chile’s been paying a lot of attention to our of our Latin American experience. snowcapped Andes, from Barbados’ southern neighbors in Latin Amer- idyllic beaches on the peaceful blue ica and the Caribbean. This area Caribbean to the Magellan Strait’s dominates our energy pipeline, pro- penguin-populated, stormy seas. vides markets for our exports, and The people are as diverse as the offers political, social, and geography. Indians, blacks, cauca- economic challenges. For these sians, and orientals are all widely strategic, commercial, and human The branch’s geographic area of represented, each contributing from reasons, the United States is seek- responsibility covers what is known their individual cultures to the uni- ing and cementing new friendships as Latin America-Mexico and Cen- que culture of the region. Spanish is in the area. The Latin America tral and South America-plus the the language most frequently Branch (LAB), one of the Interna- Caribbean island nations and ter- spoken, but in Haiti, one will hear tional Division’s three branches, ritories that generally define the French or Creole; in Brazil, Por-

14 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

and Brazil’s national product ex- ceeds the combined national prod- ucts of Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Other Latin countries, though not as large as Brazil, have their own cultural heritages which, in some cases, date back to the advanced civiliza- tions of the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs who flourished long before Columbus discovered the New World.

North Atlantic GAO in Lath America Ocean While national attention has only recently increased on Latin Amer- ica, GAO has a long history in the area. The earliest presence was related to Panama Canal audits. The list of persons who contributed to this work reads like a GAO version of “Who’s Who.” For example, the 1947 crew included Oye Stovall and Adolph T. Samuelson, both of whom became division directors. Others are too numerous to mention, but veterans include a substantial number of GAO’s senior staff today. Even though canal audit work was important in the early days and re- mains so today, it was not the only South Pacific work done in the area. During the Ocean 1960’s and 1970’s, numerous GAO auditors from the United States trooped through Latin American countries to perform “country-wide reviews” and “country cognizance” (COCOG) reviews. The travel demands and costs of this work, coupled with the desires of then Comptroller General Staats to in- crease GAO’s presence in the region, led to the Latin America Branch’s creation 8 years ago. tuguese; and in Jamaica, English. Although English is widely spoken or at least understood, the LAB staff has all found that a little bit of Spanish goes a long way toward en- hancing the experience of living and traveling in Latin America. Many countries in the region are large and highly sophisticated. Latin America boasts three of the five largest cities in the world-Sao Paulo, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro-each having a population

over 10 million. Further, Brazil’s Pacrf,c Ocean population (120 million) equals that of France and Germany combined,

GAO Review/Spring 1983 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

Early July 1975 marked the arrival of our first director, George L. DeMarco, in the Republic of Panama. He supervised the work of setting up our first office in the Edificio de Diego, the building which also housed the American consulate. In 1979, the office was moved one block to our current loca- tion on the fifth floor of the Edificio Aseguradora Mundial. Like the original office, this building over- looks Panama Bay, where ships queue awaiting transit through the canal. Since LAB’s start in 1975, the number of assigned staff has grown from 5 auditors and 1 administrative staff to our current level of 14 auditors and 2 administrative staff. During the interim, the director’s baton has been passed to Wayne T. Tucker, John P. Competello, and Thomas Brogan, LAB’s present Director Tom Brogan. director. Living in Panama Even though Panama is only 2% hours flying time from Florida, it offers a truly foreign living ex- perience for LAB staff. Although predominantly Latin, Panama has an international flavor. Influenced by a variety of cultures-European, Asian, Jamaican, and American- which were brought together during the building of the canal, many Panamanians proudly claim that their country is more of a “melting pot” than the United States. Panama is roughly the size of South Carolina and has a popula- tion of almost 1.8 million. Ciudad Panama, its capital, is a modern city of 700,000. The country’s topography includes beaches, prairies, tropical forests. and 11,000-foot mountains. The temperature is rather constant, with a May-to-December rainy sea- LAB’s Transisthmian Relay Team celebrates completion of 51 miles. son and a January-to-April dry season. By the way, in Panama aerobics-to salsa music-are hunter’s paradise. Golf courses and there is no malaria, there are very among our activities. The most tennis courts are readily available. few mosquitos, and the water is spectacular, though, is the GAO Sports and spectacles, such as safe to drink. As a result, some of relay team which has twice run from horse racing, baseball, soccer, our staff who prepared themselves ocean to ocean. A few of our more cockfights, and bullfights, are also with quinine, bug spray, and water determined staff have run occa- available. purification tablets have been very sional individual marathons. Other Most of our staff live in medium- pleasantly surprised. recreational opportunities abound sized apartment buildings. How- Something seems to breed ath- in the area. World-class sailfish and ever, unlike staff at ID’S branches in letes in Panama, and except for a marlin roam the Pacific; bass, tar- Hawaii and Frankfurt, we neither few holdouts, the LAB staff mem- pon, and snook swarm in the 150- live in the United States nor in a US. bers are no exception. Softball, vol- square-mile Gatun Lake; the Atlan- enclave. Each staff member has had leyball, bowling, and now even tic coast is a skin diver’s and shell to search out, locate, and negotiate

16 GAO Review/ Spring 1983 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

a lease for their residence. Nearly all of the searching and negotiating are in Spanish, and the lease almost certainly will be. Needless to say, this is an interesting part of getting settled in Panama. While we live and work in Panama City, the presence of a large Amer- ican community in the nearby canal area makes it possible for us to en- joy many of the comforts of home while still living overseas. We have access to all Department of Defense commercial, educational, medical, and recreational facilities. Our ac- cess to military facilities also gives us opportunities for such things as inexpensive boat rental for deep-sea fishing and "jungle training" at the U.S. Army Jungle Operations Train- ing Center. On weekends, we can go to the military commissary and PX to purchase American products, go Panama City from a staff member's apartme;, home and watch a live football ." game on Armed Forces television, -.~ .. . *. . .., I.. - -. _-I^ ._ and later join friends in Panama for .".. "_ -y*< -..*:-. 1- ." a night of Latin music, casinos, and Panamanian cuisine. By living in a foreign country while still having ac- cess to US. military facilities, we feel we have the best of all worlds. Traveling im Latin America

When we travel in Latin America, we visit some of the most romantic and interesting cities in the world. Consider, if you will, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and San- tiago. However, we are not restricted to major cities and have visited totally unknown places where rains can raise water level by 10 feet over- night and where termite hills domi- nate the landscape. Each trip, even those in Panama, has the makings of an adventure. Here are a few ex- LAB and embassy staff learn how to survive in jungle waters. amples: Two staff members left George- Machu Picchu high atop the Andes ment officials rarely venture makes town, Guyana, on a Saturday en during their work in Peru. for interesting stories and fond route to Brasilia, Brazil. Five days Many staff have ventured well into memories. later, they finally arrived-their the outback in remote areas of Peru, transportation had stopped in Port Costa Rica, Honduras, Haiti, and Workimg in the of Spain, Trinidad; Caracas, Venezu- the San Blas islands of Panama, Latin Branch ela; Bogota, Colombia; Manaus, where four-wheel drive vehicles are America Brazil; and Rio de Janeiro. (This was necessities, roads are paths, elec- Although a substantial part of our not exactly according to plan, but it tricity is unheard of, and running workload concerns the Panama made for some good stories after water means a stream to be crossed Canal, other assignments we under- the ordeal ended.) in dugout canoe. It can be rough, but take address a wide range of issues, Several staff were able to squeeze the excitement in being in remote including development assist'ance a visit to the isolated Inca ruins of villages where even host govern- concerns, U.S. military matters,

GAO Review/Spring 1983 17 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

trade and investment decisions, and other US.Government activities. As one can imagine, LAB work is as stimulating and challenging as it is diverse. Examples of recent work follow. Panama Canal Work

The Panama Canal was begun in 1904 and completed in 1914. The treaty of 1904 granted the United States the right to act as if it were sovereign in the Canal Zone. This concept was softened several times in later years-1936 and 1955-and was finally disposed of altogether when the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 was signed. This treaty was implemented by passage of the Panama Canal Act of 1979 which assigned GAO specific audit duties. The treaty and the act provide for a LAB staff inspect ships going through Miraflores Locks.

Canal Area monument to the building of the Canal, with the Bridge of the Americas in the background.

18 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

cooperative relationship between at the Commission requires about canal passage. the United States and Panama until 6 staff years of effort. We deliver a 1999, when the canal will be turned minimum of two reports to the Con- Developmeat over to Panama. gress each year and complete others Assistance The new treaty and a Canal Com- as requested, which are addressed I mission Board of Directors (which to the requester or the Administrator The administration, the Congress, includes foreign nationals of a U.S. of the Commission. and the media are increasing their agency) combine to make our work Staff assigned to this work transit attention to development assistance on the Panama Canal even more the canal on the bridge of a merchant in LAB’s area of responsibility. In challenging. Each year we are vessel to gain a perspective of the the last year, this attention has required to canal enterprise, the people, and the resulted in our participation in e audit the Commission’s trans- country that otherwise would be reviews of development assistance actions, including the payment to missed. For example, they learn the efforts of the Inter-American Foun- Panama for public services, canal goes southeastlnorthwest, dation and those of the Agency for certify estimated revenues for not eastlwest or northlsouth, as International Development in Haiti, future years, and most believe, and that the sun rises Jamaica, and the Eastern Caribbean. e provide listings of the cost in- on the Pacific and sets over the curred to implement the treaty and Atlantic. The marvel of the Panama In ter-American the cost of property transferred to Canal is a thing that must be experi- Foundation Panama. enced. All of us still flock to the Unless the law changes, LAB’s Miraflores Locks to see the Queen Because the nature and strategy canal audit responsibility will con- Elizabeth Il-the largest ship to of U.S. foreign assistance programs tinue until 1999. Currently, the work transit the canal-make its annual in Latin America were under close

The Queen Elizabeth II squeezes through the narrow cut in the Continental Divide.

GAO Reviea/Spring 1983 19 Looking South: The Latin America Branch

scrutiny in the Congress and the ited several of the islands (Jamaica, taining unimpeded use of sea lanes executive branch, GAO undertook Barbados, and five other small East- adjacent to North America and the an in-depth review of the Inter- ern Caribbean islands) to review the Panama Canal and access to Mexi- American Foundation activities. The effect this assistance is having. can and Venezuelan petroleum and IAF is a semiautonomous Govern- other raw materials. Further, as our ment development corporation char- Future LAB Role closest neighbors and friends, these acterized by independence from the in Development countries are important in gaining United States and host governments’ Assistance support for US. policies in hemi- short-term foreign policy objectives spheric and international forums. and nonintervention in the affairs of President Reagan recently pro- Political unrest and territorial groups it supports. During field posed the Caribbean Basin Initiative, disputes in the hemisphere continue work, LAB staff visited over 66 pri- designed to assist developing coun- to raise security concerns for the vate, indigenous groups who had tries in the Caribbean and Central United States. Specifically, civil vio- received IAF grants. These visits America through an integrated pro- lence in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and required trips to remote locations in gram of trade, aid, and investment. Guatemala and territorial disputes Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, Hon- Even though much of this proposal in the Falklands and elsewhere have duras, and the Dominican Republic is still under congressional consid- attracted considerable international to determine how effectively the eration, it is clear that development attention. Recognizing the impor- group needs were being met by this assistance efforts in Central America tance of stability in the region, the new type of development assistance. and the Caribbean will be empha- United States is increasing security LAB staff also met with US. mission sized in the future. This increased assistance programs and reemphasiz- personnel, other private and govern- emphasis is likely to result in a con- ing planning for miI i tary contingencies. mental development organizations, tinued LAB leadership role in the This is creating additional work and host government representatives development assistance area. for GAO and the LAB. For example, in all countries visited to get their we recently participated in a review reactions to the program. Trade, Energy, which provided the Senate Foreign and finance Relations Committee information on US. military assistance programs Although America’s trade relation- in El Salvador. Ongoing and planned In 1981, the phenomenon of the ships are still predominantlyoriented work involves US. base access in “boat people” and the concern that to the east and west, recent eco- Honduras and US. strategic plan- US. economic assistance to Haiti nomic growth in Latin America is ning for the Caribbean basin. was ineffective led GAO to undertake beginning to change the trade rela- an assessment of assistance pro- tionships with Latin America. Latin Management of gram effectiveness, the reasons for America depends on the United Foreign Affairs past assistance failures, the ade- States for the bulkof its imports and quacy of planned corrective actions, provides agricultural products and Consistent with the emphasis on and possible development assis- important raw materials in return. budget savings, LAB has also worked tance options. As part of the field- Mexico and Venezuela are key sup- to improve foreign affairs manage- work, LAB staff visited all parts of pliers of oil, and Jamaica a major ment to achieve budget savings. Haiti to observe the attempts to supplier of bauxite. In the future, our Latin America is an excellent loca- improve living conditions. This work trade links with Latin America will tion for reviews of administrative gave LAB staff a taste of the appall- likely include more nontraditional and management practices. There ing poverty and hunger which exist items. are 23 embassies and 20 consulates so close to the United States, the In recent years, LAB has partici- which vary in size from very large difficulties AID faces in its develop- pated in reviews of the changing posts in Brazil and Mexico to small ment efforts, and an understanding structure of the international oil posts in Guyana and Suriname. (The of why Haitians are so willing to markets and US. efforts to encour- embassy and consulates in Mexico crowd into leaky, unseaworthy ves- age mining investments for strategic employ about 1,000 people, making sels for the chance for a better life and critical minerals. Upcoming it one of the largest U.S.missions in in the United States or elsewhere. work includes examining US. energy the world.) Further, many agencies interests in the Caribbean, including are represented here which may not Elsewhere in the reviewing the lessons Brazil learned be represented elsewhere. For Caribbean from its program to produce and use example, Federal Aviation Adminis- alcohol fuel as a substitute for fossil tration officials are stationed in Other islands in the Caribbean, fuel. Panama, and US. Government health though generally considered to be and agricultural inspectors are tourist havens, face serious devel- located in many Central American opment problems. The United States NatSonal Security countries. is undertaking a major assistance The geographic proximity of Latin effort, more than tripling assistance America and the Caribbean makes provided to these islands in the last them vital to our national security. several years. Our staff recently vis- Major strategic concerns are main- See LOOKING SOUTH, p. 53

2@ GAO Review/Spring 1983 Vocational Education and the Robotics Revo%dion

The subject of robotics is arising with unfailing precision and in envi- with increasing frequency in the ronments from which humans must United States. It has become an be protected. Though their appear- important topic at the collective bar- ance may disappoint science fiction gaining table. Automobile com- buffs, robots are at the center of a panies now use robots to symbolize revolution in manufacturing tech- Patricia A. Cole quality workmanship. Wall Street nology which various economists, firms consider companies which government officials, and business Patricia A. Cole, a GAO evaluator, IS cur- use robots to be sound investments. leaders claim will rejuvenate the rently with the Office of Program Planning Can there be any doubt that, as sev- Nation’s aging industrial base. She joined GAO in 1981 at the Washington eral headlines have proclaimed, The robot is the focus of attention regional office She received an A B. magna cum laude with distinction in history and an “The Robots Are Coming, The in the media. However, it is only the A.M in history from Duke University. Robots Are Coming?” most visible part of a complete man- Even the General Accounting ufacturing system run by a computer. Office is interested in robots. For In a computer-aided manufacturing The following article was adapted from a several years, GAO has looked at system, a computer assists or presentation made in August 1982 at a private-sector productivity and its directs manufacturing from design roundtable discussion on “Robotics Its effect on international competitive- of an article through production. Impact on Education and Training,” spon- ness. A 1976 GAO report, “Manufac- The payoff is an overall improvement sored by the Department of Education The turing Technology-A Changing in productivity and quality. material was gathered during a GAO review Challenge to Improved Productivity,” What distinguishes this new of automated manufacturing technology recommended that manufacturing technology from previous forms of productivity become a national prior- automation is its ability to be repro- ity and that the Federal Government grammed. Previously, “hard” auto- strengthen its support for and devel- mation was built to repeat only one opment of productivity-enhancing operation. Programmable automa- technology related to manufacturing. tion not only can perform several Since 1976, the Japanese strategy different operations in succession, of adopting the technology to en- but can also be reprogrammed to hance competitiveness has become perform a new set of operations as increasingly visible. In view of the production needs change. growing threat to American indus- Automated manufacturing tech- trial markets, GAO recently reviewed nology will play a dramatic role in the current Federal involvement in our manufacturing sector and may advanced manufacturing technol- revitalize American industry. But in ogy, including robotics. The review doing so, it will fundamentally found that, while the technology’s change the nature of manufacturing use does have a positive effect on jobs. The skill shift that will accom- private-sector productivity, it also pany the new technology will create raises many other concerns about serious stresses on many parts of social effects. our social structure, but none more The machines that are causing so than the vocational education such a stir are not the anthropomor- system. The vocational educational phic beings of science fiction. At system will be given the job of train- best, they look like giant arms per- ing technicians to operate and main- forming such mundane tasks as lift- tain robots. But a greater challenge ing, welding, and painting. In the may be looming ahead. The voc-ed future, they will have rudimentary system may also have to face the human characteristics like vision formidable task of preparing workers and touch. They are prized more for to adapt to radical shifts in employ- their nonhuman abilities: robots ment trends resulting from this work tirelessly around the clock, technological revolution.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 21 Students at the South Carolina robotics center become acquainted with their new partner on the production line. Officials hope this program will give the State an edge in attracting new industry. Traimimd Workers results of a study on robotics’ effects industries to their areas of the coun- in automobile plants being con- try. The South Carolina State Board for Rolbats ducted for the State of Michigan of Technical and Comprehensive show significant movement of fac- Education has created a robotics Training workers to work with tory jobs from production line to resource center as part of its Design robots on the factory floor may not professional categories.’ for the Eighties program. South solve the larger problems created by At present, there are many barriers Carolina established this program the new technology, but it is clearly impeding the development of voca- as its response to the impending the most immediate task facing soci- tional education programs to train technological revolution. Similarly, ety. Robotics itself creates a skill these technicians. The training Michigan is creating a program to shift on the production line. Failure equipment remains expensive, attract high technology businesses, to meet this shift with properly although the cost of a robot is drop- including robotics manu fact urers. trained workers could seriously im- ping and new training robots have Workers trained in robotics are pede introduction of the technology. been developed. Qualified teachers essential to Michigan’s plan. Robotics and other advanced are scarce since industry can offer technologies generally will cause higher salaries for people knowl- Future Jobs May Be skills to shift upward, since by edgeable about the technology. The Outside the design they usually replace unskilled high risk associated with creating a and semiskilled tasks. Manual labor program dealing with revolutionary Mamufacturimg SecGor jobs, such as welding and assembly, technology and unknown demand will become increasingly scarce as may also deter some institutions, Although these educational efforts more sophisticated, sensory-capable especially when scarce resources in are important, they do not address robots are developed. an era of fiscal austerity may mean the larger problems which may Most new jobs created by robotics that existing programs have to be result from introducing the range of will require a variety of technical cut to make way for this new training. technologies which compose the skills not needed for today’s jobs. One thing, however, remains compu ter-aided man uf ac t uri ng sys-

~ This skill shift may change the defi- certain. The States and institutions ’Presentation by John M Koval, Staff Econ- nition of the factory worker from the which are developing robotics train- omist. Office of the Governor of Michioan. traditional blue-collar worker to a ing programs feel they Will have a before the Robotics Roundtable, Deiart: white-collar technician. Preliminary decided edge in attracting high-tech ment of Education. August 19, 1982

GAO Reviea/Spring 1983 Roboticsstudentsexamine the hydraulic system in a Unimate 2000 robot. (Photo by Kevin A. Rourke.DownriverCommunityConference) tem. Widespread introduction of traditionally labor-intensive indus- of total employment in the United these systems may create a massive tries is doubtful. In addition, coun- States is already shrinking. In 1959, job shift between economic sectors. tries such as Japan are moving that figure stood at 24.1 percent. By This movement could create enor- aggressively to capture the high 1979, it had declined to 20.6 percent. mous job dislocation for workers technology construction market, (See table 1.) Some experts predict and would require major changes in and it is- uncertain whether the vocational education programs. United States will be able to retain 2,11sTalk of High Tech Jobs More Po,ltlca, Automated manufacturing tech- these jobs domestically.2 Than Real?" New York Tmes. October 24. nology probably will not create as The manufacturing sector's share 1982 many manufacturing jobs as it destroys. Fewer workers on the pro- duction line is a basic goal of the Table 1 technology. Robotics technicians Employment by Major Sector, 1959-1979 and other workers will be needed to maintain and operate the machinery, Percent Distribution but not in a one-to-one ratio with the Industry Sector 1959 1979 production workers it will replace. Many futurists predict the factory of Total employment 1000 100.0 the future will employ only a few workers where hundreds were previ- General government 141 159 Agriculture 7.8 2.7 ously needed. Mining .9 .7 Some observers, including policy- Construction 5.4 5.8 makers in Michigan, point to the Manufacturing 24.1 20.6 potential for creating a new industry Transportation, communications, and public utilities 6.1 5.3 Wholesale and retail trade 18.8 21.5 to construct the robotics technology Finance, insurance, and real estate 4.1 5.3 itself. However, this new industry Other services 13.6 19.4 would be highly vulnerable to the Government enterprises 1.4 1.4 very technology it will produce. The Private households 3.7 1.7 ability of the robotics construction Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics industry to take up the employment slack caused by the automation of

GAO ReviewlSpring 1983 28 Vocational Education and the Robotics Revolution

this share could drop to 10 percent with the task of providing trainees workers with families to feed and or less by the end of the century. If for the nonmanufacturing sectors, mortgages to pay will not be able to this shift does occur, other sectors many of which will also feel the spend 2 years in a traditional training would have to account for a greater effects of microelectronics. program. portion of total employment. Yet Educators will have to reexamine Displaced workers also could other sectors of the economy which the vocational education system not have age and mobility problems. have provided job growth in the past only to decide where to place future Older workers may be harder to may be unable to absorb more emphasis, but also to prevent stu- retrain. They are also more likely to workers during the next two decades. dents from training for occupations have familial and economic ties to Ironically, the same technology which which could soon be obsolete. And geographic locations. Many of the makes computer-aided manufactur- reexamination must extend beyond new jobs created in the future may i ng possi ble-m icroelect ron ics- vocational training. Secondary edu- not be in the industrial heartland of also creates new opportunities for cators also must evaluate the ade- the Northwest and Midwest, but automation in the service sector, quacy of existing mathematics and rather in the Sun Belt States of the thereby raising the potential for science courses as these disciplines South and West. Many older workers further job di~placement.~ become prerequisites for obtaining simply may not be able to face the highly skilled technical jobs in uprooting the new jobs would require. General Economic automated technology ind~stries.~ A Comprehensive Employment Conditions Complicate and Training Act (CETA) demonstra- Displaced Workers Have tion project sponsored by the Down- the Problem Unique Problems river Community Conference in The impact of automation on the Michigan is trying to solve some of work force cannot be separated Workers displaced by the new these problems. The project offers from the overall health of the econ- automation face problems different training and placement assistance omy. The current recession has from those of a generation of young to workers laid off because of in- slowed new equipment orders and people just beginning training. These creasing import sales and the reces- thus may retard the introduction of workers will need retraining, but it is sion. During the past year, the project advanced technologies. However, unclear whether employment oppor- included a robotics training program the recession has also resulted in tunities will exist. The new technol- which demonstrated one role for record unemployment rates. Many ogy may not create enough new jobs voc-ed institutions in retraining dis- jobs lost to the recession may never to absorb the workers it displaces. placed workers. A 2-year community be recreated as labor-intensive Many of these workers may not pos- college course was condensed to industries fail to regain their earlier sess the technical background nec- 36 weeks as workers were retrained levels of production. Assistant Sec- essary to move into the jobs which to build and service robots. At the retary of Commerce Robert Dederick are created. Furthermore, many completion of the training program, testified recently that the automobile CETA placement services and in- industry alone will permanently lose dustry contacts were used to find 500,000 jobs by 198E1.~The introduc- the workers new jobs! tion of automation at a time of declining market share internation- ally may prove to be a double blow to automobile assembly workers. 3Colin Norman, Microelectronm at Work Productivity and Jobs /n the World Econ- Challenge for the omy, Worldwatch Paper 39, October 1980, Educational System p. 35 "Statement of Robert G Dederick, Assistant As the parameters of the impact Secretary for Economic Affairs, U S of this new technology become Department of Commerce, before the apparent, so do the challenges fac- Subcommittee on Employment and Pro- ing those who must prepare the ductivity of the Senate Committee on work force. The skills associated Labor and Human Resources, January 12, with programmable automation 1982 require new, highly technical train- ing programs. However, these new %tanley Pogrow, "On Technological Rele- programs may not need to train as vance and the Survival of U S Public Schools." Phi Delta Kappan, May 1982, many people as traditional voca- PP 610-611 tional programs, such as welding or drafting. Thus, the vocational edu- 'Statement of Raymond Uhalde. Office of cation system will have to provide the Assistant Secretary for Planning, very expensive training for a rela- Unemployed Michigan workers learn new Evaluation and Research, U S Depart- tively small number of students. At skills in a roboticsprogram (Photo by Kevin ment of Labor, before the Robotics the same time, the vocational edu- A. Rourke, Downriver Community Roundtable, Department of Education, cation system will be confronted Conference) August 19. 1982

24 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Lack of Information Is the Largest Problem

Perhaps the greatest impediment to preparing for the robotics revolu- tion is the lack of detailed informa- tion about how this new automation affects skills and job distribution. A 1981 study by Carnegie-Mellon University sought to identify tasks and occupations vulnerable to robotics. (See table 2.) Only in the past year, however, have plant-level studies been initiated to corroborate various theories on the effect of automation on job displacement. And little research has been con- A student learns to operate and program a computer which controls a small training robot. ducted to determine at what rate [Photo by Kevin A. Rourke, Downriver Community Conference) being trained for obsolete occupa- tions. For example, students train- Table 2 ing today for jobs as welders or Prime Operative Tasks for Robots drafters may soon find themselves replaced by robots and computer- aided design techniques. Second, Percent of Tasks Performed by students may be properly trained for Occupational Title Level I robotsa Level II robotsb new manufacturing occupations but Production Painters 44 66 in numbers that far exceed the num- WelderlFlamecutters 27 49 ber of jobs the new technology will Machine Tool Operators 20 50 create. And, finally, there is the Electroplators 20 55 potential for an increase in the num- Heat Treaters 10 46 ber of people who have none of the Packagers 16 41 skills in demand. Would-be workers Inspectors 13 35 FilelGrindlBuffers 20 35 without skills, or with the wrong Assemblers 10 30 skills, will have no place to start in the job hierarchy. This condition is aLevel I robots have no sensory input. already becoming a problem and will bLevel II robots have sensory capabilities, such as rudimentary vision and touch. only grow in magnitude unless these people can be channeled into train- ing programs offering appropriate Source The lmpacts of Robotics OR fhe Workforce and Workplace, Department skills. of Engineering and Public Policy, and School of Urban and Public Affairs. Carnegie-Mellon University. 1981, p 99. The Federal Role: Coordhathg Future POfiCJT this displacement will occur. No one disputes that computer- Unfortunately, without information aided manufacturing will displace The Federal role in future voca- on the new automation’s potential workers. The real question is whether tional training has been the subject for skill change, educators and these workers will become perma- of intense debate, but policy incon- social planners cannot properly nently unemployed. Traditionally, sistencies continue. For example, design programs to handle future retraining has not been the respon- federally sponsored research may educational demands. sibility of vocational education hasten the development of robots institutions, but certainly they could with sensory capabilities, but little Consequences of Not play a critical role in providing the Federal effort has been devoted to Being Prepared work force with new skills. However, determining the social impacts of these institutions can fulfill this role these machines. Existing tax policies In human terms, the possible only if their curricula are expanded encourage industry to invest in cap- consequences of not preparing for to meet this new demand. ital equipment but provide little in- future skill shifts range from a few Failure to close the gap between centive to invest in training workers. thousand workers being dislocated the latest technological demands More than any other institution, to a dramatic increase in the number and the vocational curricula offered of unemployable people in the work could lead to several serious prob- See ROBOTICS, p. 53 force. lems. First, students could end up

GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 25 Auditing, Evaluation, and Managemexat Impr Cana

Since 1981, GAO has been experi- GAO's. There he was briefed on two menting with ways to study broad activities relevant to the manage- organization and management ment studies initiative: issues. These studies have been the comprehensive audits con- Roger L. Sperry aimed at answering one question: ducted by the Auditor General's Mr Sperry heads the General Government how well or poorly is an agency office and Division's General Management Studies being managed? the IMPAC program, a major man- Group Before that, he served as Special Three GAO divisions have under- agement improvement effort carried Assistant to the Comptroller General, lead- taken studies at several Federal out jointly by the Office of the ing a project which produced GAO 1966- agencies, including the Department Comptroller General and the individ- 1981 ' An Adrnm/strat/ve History He joined of Housing and Urban Development ual executive departments in the GAO's Civil Division in 1963 and has served (HUD) and the Federal Emergency Canadian government. with the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Management Agency (FEMA). The When he returned, he asked and in the Office of Congressional Relations General Government Division estab- Bill Anderson, director of the General Mr. Sperry holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of New lished a separate unit-the General Government Division, and me to Mexico and a master's degree in public Management Studies Group (GMS)- make a follow-up visit, an assign- administration from Harvard University to develop expertise in making ment we were more than pleased to broad-based management assess- accept. As it turned out, we made the ments and to assess the extent to trip in August, a delightful month in which the Office of Management Ottawa and one of the muggiest in and Budget and other central man- Washington. agement agencies provide the guid- Our 3-day trip took us to several ance and support needed to ensure offices in the Canadian Government, that Government programs are including the Auditor General, the effectively managed. Comptroller General, two executive While GAO has broadened its per- departments, and the Bureau of spective substantially in recent Management Consulting in their years, its reviews have focused gen- Department of Supplies and Ser- erally on either programmatic issues vices. We wanted to find out not or individual administrative activ- only how the management improve- I ities, such as budgeting, personnel, ment efforts were being implemented or procurement. The perspective of and assessed, but also how they the total organization responsible were being received in the agencies for a given set of programs was themselves. missing, however, as was the sense We conducted our interviews with of how activities, such as planning, an awareness that there were signif- budget, and evaluation fit together icant differences between the Cana- to support an entire organization or dian system and our own. For management system. example: Early in 1982, ComptrollerGeneral Canada functions under a parlia- Charles A. Bowsher indicated that mentary system. Funding and policy finding ways to conduct these decisions are made almost entirely broad-based management studies in the executive branch by the Prime would receive high priority. While Minister and his cabinet. testifying on GAO's fiscal year 1983 Canada has only about one-tenth appropriations, he announced this the U.S. population, and its central effort as one of three major new government is proportionately initiatives. smaller than ours. Around that time, he traveled to * Canada has much clearer separa- Canada to look at how our northern tion in functions between the central neighbors performed work similar to and provincial governments than

26 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Auditing, Evaluation, and Management Improvement

exists between our own Federal and Figure 1 State governments. POLICY AND EXPENDITURE PLANNING CYCLE Policy and ECONOMIC FINANCE lFgFK’& Experpditure IFRAMEWORK1 Management I

PRIORITIES SETS OVERALL CONFIRMS PLANS, New Cycle. The concept we found most striking AND DIRECTION AN0 OIRECTIONS. & Seeech from about the Canadian approach to gov- PLANNING ENVELOPES ENVELOPES the Throne erning was a mechanism called the Policy and Expenditure Management GUIDELINES System (PEMS). Introduced about REOUEST 3 years ago, PEMS is a government- PROPOSALS wide planning and management scheme designed to ensure greater Mal“ TREASURY 1 I BOARD EStlmaleS control over the management of pol- Cycle icies and expenditures. Like our Ongoing Submirrion of own recent history, Canada’s 1960’s PREPARE STRATEGIC Proporalr and Program Reviews DEPARTMENTS OVERVIEWS AN0 1 and early 1970’s were marked by sig- OPERATIONAL PLANS nificant policy and program expan- sion as well as great organizational SEPT DFCIJAN APR JULY SEPl growth and change in government. By the mid-l970’s, it became clear that the central government had to follow a policy of restraint to control escalating inflation and the growing Figure 2 gap between expenditures and revenues. Cabinet Committees and Resource Envelopes PEMS is a conscious attempt to alter the decisionmaking process in Cabinet Resource a way which more clearly delineates Committee Envelope the government’s objectives within Priorities and Planning 1. Fiscal arrangements the context of available resources. 2. Public debt A major effort was made to bring Economic Development 3. Economic development together policy decisions and re- 4. Energy source allocations in a longer term Social Development 5. Social affairs perspective. The objective is to 6. Justice and legal Foreign and Defense Policy 7 External affairs and aid ensure that policy and program 8. Defense decisions are made with full knowl- Government Operations 9. Parliament edge of cost and expenditure limits 10. Services to government and that, in turn, expenditure deci- sions are made with an understand- ing of the government’s policies and priorities. Figure 1 summarizes Canada’s policy and expenditure planning committees, policy sectors, and The Auditor General’s cycle. Two significant features in resource envelopes. Understanding Role the new system are this new system required us to long-term fiscal plan encompassing absorb a lot of new terminology and The watchdog over all this activity government revenues and expendi- comprehend its functioning in an is Canada’s Office of the Auditor tures over a 5-year period, i.e., setting environment significantly different General, which is much like our own out the overall financial constraints from our own. In summary, it seemed GAO. This office has existed for a within which policy choices must be that the Canadians have taken seri- little more than 100 years, but only considered, and ously the need for long-term planning recently has it moved beyond the expenditure limits-resource by matching policy decisions to traditional financial and compliance “envelopes”-for policy sectors, resource allocations and establishing auditing GAO performed in its early which are related to the government a structure which permits govern- years. Armed with a new charter (the priorities, with a particular cabinet ment initiatives to be systematically Auditor General Act of 1977) and a committee assigned the responsi- implemented. This system provides staff of more than 500 employees, bility for managing each policy the framework for planning, manag- the incumbent Auditor General, sector’s resources. ing, and evaluating government Kenneth Dye, and his predecessor, Figure 2 provides a list of cabinet programs. James Macdonell, have leap-frogged

GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 2z Auditing, Evaluation, and Management Improvement

Figure 3 SUMMARY COMPARISON GAO O& 1. Title Comptroller General of the United States. Auditor General of Canada. 2. Term 15 years 10 years 3. Office United States General Accounting Office (GAO) Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG)

4 Mandate ~ The Budget and Accounting Act, 1921. as amended. The Auditor General Act, 1977. Legislation Government Corporation Control Act, as amended. The Financial Administration Act, Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. 1970, as amended. Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950. Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, as amended by Public Law 93-344, July 17,. 1974 (88 Stat. 297). Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The General Accounting Office Act of 1974. The General Accounting Office Act of 1980. 5. Scope of Work Auditing and Evaluation (Economy, Efficiency and Auditing (Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness). Procedures for Effectiveness, Accounting Systems. Attest and Authority). Legal Servkei Claims Settlement Virtually all work initiated by

6 Reporting To the Congress, Committees. and Mem 7. OrEanization Audit Operations by Issue Areas and Lead Divisions. Audit Operations by Government

8. Staffing - Professional 4,130 - 8 1% 386 - 76% - Other -970 - 19% -125 - 24% 5.100 at September 1981 -511 atFebruary 1982 9. Offices Headquarters - Washington, D.C. Headquarters - Ottawa. 15 Regional Offices and 3 Overseas. 6 Regional Offices. I 10. Standards and “Standards for Audit of Governmental Organizations, Comprehensive Auditing Manual. Me thodology Programs, Activities. and Functions.” Audit Guides. General Policy Manual. Accounting and Auditing Bulletins. Proiect Manual. Report Manual. 1 I. Number of Reports Approx. 1.000 per year plus an Annual One Annual Report and opinion on Report - Summary. Public Accounts and opinion on Financial Statements of Crown corporations.

GAO’s evolution toward program controls, reporting to Parliament, audit, planning, financial controls), evaluation by conducting several attest and authority (financial author- plus the support systems for irnple- ambitious governmentwide studies ity for disbursements and opinion menting programs. The auditors and adopting a comprehensive on the financial statements), man- determined whether a department’s audit approach to assessing depart- agement controls, and electronic managers established clear objec- mental management systems. Fig- data processing controls. The man- tives and if they had reasonable pro- ure 3 provides a summary compari- agement controls facet focused on cedures to measure and report on son between the Auditor General’s the “systems, policies and proce- their achievement. They assessed office and GAO. dures for evaluating and reporting whether appropriate procedures Traditionally, the Auditor General’s on the effectiveness of programs were in place to plan, direct, and office examined departmental per- and for promoting the economic control a department’s operations. formance and expenditure control acquisition and efficient use of The theory behind this approach is by focusing on isolated examples of resources,” the so-called value-for- that, if the systems were in place improprieties discovered during money concept. and working, then there was a good field audits of individual transac- To conduct these comprehensive possibility the organization was tions. To provide Parliament with a audits, teams were assembled from being managed efficiently and better understanding of the underly- the audit staff, experts were housed effectively. ing problems and possible remedies, in a separate “Control Evaluations The Auditor General issues only the Auditor General adopted a more Branch,” and outside consultants one report a year to Parliament. It comprehensive systems-based were hired as needed. Each team contains the results of several of approach, first through a series of was headed by an audit principal these governmentwide studies and governmentwide special studies, and monitored by an audit advisory comprehensive audits as well as then by means of departmentwide committee consisting of top man- chapters on the office’s other major comprehensive audits performed on agement officials and several out- activities. a cyclical basis. These department- side experts. The focus was on a When we visited Ottawa, the wide audits concentrated initially department’s program delivery and Auditor General’s office was just on five interrelated facets: financial management systems (internal completing its first 5-year cycle of

GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 Auditing, Evaluation, and Management Improvement

comprehensive audits at the Cana- tices necessary to evaluate and Based on our discussions with dian departments and agencies and report on the efficiency and effec- OCG officials, it became clear that was about to launch another. We tiveness of government programs. the IMPAC project was a major learned that they were rethinking Most of its efforts have been devoted undertaking that had no parallel in their initial approach. Essentially, to a major governmentwide program the U.S. Government either today or the first round had focused on called I MPAC-Improvements in in the past. These were the key departmental management controls Management Practices and Control. questions: How well was it working? and what additional controls were The program is headed by HarryG. How was it relevant to our manage- needed to ensure “value for money.” Rogers, former vice-president of ment studies effort? One official told us that the depart- operations for Xerox of Canada. In testimony before a committee of ments were “amused” by this ap- IMPAC was designed to identify Parliament in March 1982, Mr. Rogers proach and were beginning to won- the current state of management said that IMPAC had produced der just how much overhead they practices in Canadian departments “noticeable crystallization or clarifi- needed to get on with their jobs. and agencies, to support the devel- cation” of objectives in at least six Managers questioned whether the opment of departmental “action departments, but there was less evi- Auditor General’s rationalistic plans” for improving existing prac- dence of improved management approach was consistent with polit- tices, and to implement these plans. information for better management ical reality and the day-to-day de- By March 1982, about 50 action control. He saw IMPAC as a long- mands confronting managers. plans had been submitted and term educational process that Ironically, the office seems to be approved or were being developed. offered opportunity to achieve “a heading toward a stronger emphasis The Comptroller General reported significant improvement in manage- on program accomplishment and that about 2,500 to 3,000 people ment practices that will endure.” systems delivery just at the time were working on IMPAC projects with The Auditor General had been when GAO is experimenting with the total one-time cost over 5 years monitoring IMPAC, and in an earlier departmentwide management estimated at between $200 and report had noted the magnitude and audits. Auditor General staffs may $250 million (Canadian). OCG has complexity of the program, observ- be asking whether the described less than 100 people working on this ing that many of the original surveys services are actually being delivered program, and most of the resources and action plans had required revi- and, if not, why not. Recognizing and funding are being furnished by sion and rescheduling. Implementa- that there is, at best, a tenuous the departments themselves. tion of these plans was taking longer cause-and-effect relationship be- than expected, much longer in some tween management control proce- To supplement departmental cases. Major areas where there was dures and effective service delivery, funding, a temporary fund was progress slippage included planning, the auditors are now addressing established under OCG control. This management information, and what the systems are actually pro- fund provided OCG an important evaluation components. ducing and how organization struc- stimulant for departmental action OCG officials acknowledged that ture and systems can be assessed by enabling it to furnish “seed nearly all program schedules had in this context. money” for management improve- slipped, and some improvement We came away from these discus- ment projects. goals had been changed. However, sions with the feeling that the Audi- In helping to perform the initial they believed sign if icant progress tor General’s staff was quite proud IMPAC surveys, assisting in devel- was being made, particularly where of its accomplishments during the oping departmental action plans, there were strong cooperative rela- initial round of comprehensive approving those plans, and assist- tionships between OCG and depart- audits. We also sensed their aware- ing with their implementation, the ment personnel. One Assistant ness that a more sophisticated most significant OCG role was to Comptroller General told us that the approach which considered the act as an agent for change. This role most successful management daily realities of departmental man- was fulfilled by OCG liaison officers improvement projects were those agement was needed to fully achieve who worked directly with depart- involving identifiable cost savings. the goal of helping to improveservice mental staffs in developing and He also stressed the importance of delivery while ensuring that value implementing their action plans. the seed money in getting agency for money was also achieved. Mr. Rogers described their role this projects started. Another factor was way: the great respect within the Cana- The Comptroller dian government for Comptroller General Harry Rogers. Managers General and IMPAC Liaison work is a blend of attitudes believed he understood their prob- and practices necessary to achieve lems and wanted to help them. In Our next stop was the Office of change cooperatively. It involves addition, the Comptroller General the Comptroller General, an agency being pro-active and service-oriented sits on a board which annually rates in the Canadian government’s exec- with departments, including invest- the performance of every depart- utive branch established in 1978 to ing the time and effort required to ment’s top career manager, the (1) oversee the quality and integrity understand departmental circum- of financial systems and related stances and to acquire the back- practices and (2) develop and main- ground necessary to give effective See IMPROVEMENT. p. 54 tain policies, procedures, and prac- guidance and advice.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 as A Model for the Systematic Internal

Bob Minick 0

Bob Minick is an evaluation specialist with GAO's Office of Organization and Human Development Prior to joining GAO in January 1981, Bob worked as a consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Public Over the past several years, evalu- needs of key management decision- Welfare for training evaluation Bob has ators have devoted considerable makers. If we consider the common served as a staff specialist and consultant thought to the emerging roles and demands of managers, three types of for management and organizational develop- ment in public and private nonprofit organi- relationships between themselves information needs seem to emerge. zations Bob received a Ph D in psychology and program managers. In particular, The first type, which we will call the with a specialty in evaluation research from they have focused on their shared Anticipatory Evaluation, judges the St Louis university His B A (Colgate concern for using evaluation informa- value and likely success of programs University) and M A (Boston College) tion. Unfortunately, the connections or actions being planned. The second degrees are both in psychology Bob is the between management decision- type, the Effort and Effects Evalua- principal author of an article on the evalua- making and the domains of formal tion, offers evidence of the quality tion of human resource development efforts evaluation are not usually well of program implementation, particu- soon to appear in the Trainmg and Develop- defined in the minds of those directly larly evidence of program effective- ment Journal involved. Though evidence suggests ness. Finally, the third type, the that formalizing evaluation as part Organization Impact Evaluation, of the system of management infor- looks at the relatively enduring mation resources has potential, organizationwide impacts of efforts guidance is needed to realize this within broad functional areas. potential. This article presents a Examples oi the objectives encom- model for considering the role of passed by these three types of internal evaluation in the planning internal evaluation are presented in and implementation of agencywide figure 1. They were taken from the human resource development and model prepared by GAO's Office of training. Organization and Human Develop- ment (OOHD) for the evaluation of Pntegra&img in-house human resource manage- ment and development (HRMID) Evaluatioa and efforts. As these objectives illustrate, IBec3sioarnahg a comprehensive internal evaluation through 8 system would require a great deal of Sys&ematioApproach planning and organization. From a management perspective, to keep to Hntermal Evaluation such a comprehensive system cohe- sive, all of the organizational deci- To develop a working concept of sionmaking processes, including internal evaluation, we must con- the evaluation components, would sider the kind of information needs have to be integrated. Ideally, inte- which can be addressed with evalu- gration would occur (1) wirhin the ation methods and information sys- organizational decisionmaking tems. Although the purposes of cycle, (2) within the management internal evaluation can be quite decisionmaking structure, and varied, everyone will agree that the (3) through the role of the internal aims stem from the information eva Iuator.

80 GAO Review/Spring 1983 A Model for the Systematic Internal Evaluation

Evaluation Objectives-GAO (OOHD) Integrated HRMlD Evaluation Model A. Anticipatory Evaluation (Planning phase evaluations) overall goals of the human resource development Objectives: program or project have been achieved. 1. Context Evaluation. Purpose: “to provide a ration- a) To assess the level of programlproject goal ale for the determination of objectives. ” (Stuffle- attainment according to agreed criteria or beam, 1973, p. 136) standards. a) To decide if functional andlor program goals b) To assess the extent to which intermediate or address relevant human resource development enabling objectives were achieved. (See Kirk- needs. patrick, 1975, for relevant examples of measur- b) To determine whether functional or program able human resource development objectives.) goals reflect the priorities set by policymakers c) To determine effects of variations in imple- (strategic rules). mentation programlproject goal attainment. 2. Evaluability Assessment. Purpose: “(to test) the 3. Administrative Evaluation. (Aggregated Assess- extent to which managers and policymakers have ment of Functional Human Resource Development defined measurable program objectives and Efforts) Purpose: to assess the relative progress defined specific uses for information on program among functional lines of human resource devel- performance.” (Wholey, 1979, p, 13) opment effort using aggregated program evalua- a) To determine the degree of ambiguity in human tion data, cost estimates, quality assurance, and resource development program objectives and other management data. (See Attkisson, et al., implementation designs. 1978; Weinstein, 1975.) b) To assess the plausibility and utility of selected a) To assess the adequacy and reliability of objectives and approaches. administra five data sources. c) To identify program options and alternative b) To array aggregated estimates of current effi- evaluation designs. ciency andlor cost effectiveness (goal attain- 3. Limited Implementation Evaluation. Purpose: to mentlcost) among human resource develop- provide preliminary evaluation of program perfor- ment lines of effort using appropriate auditing mance based on model runs or program pilots. models. (See Kearsley and Compton, 1981; see a) To identify problem areas in policy orprogram also Attkisson, et al., 1978, especially ch. 13, implementa tion. for human resource development examples.) b) To test alternative methods for delivering c) To estimate the degree of policy andlor quality programs. assurance (standards) compliance within and c) To test the utility and reliability of alternative among human resource development pro- evaluation designs and instruments. grams. (See Attkisson, et al., 1978, especially 8. Effort and Effects Evaluation (Implementation phase ch. 14, for examples.) evaluations) C. Organizational impacts Evaluation Objectives: Objectives: 7. Program Effort Evaluation (Program Management). 1. Predictive Evaluation. Purpose: to estimate current Purpose: to determine if the programlproject was and projected contribution of human resource implemented according to the levels agreed on in development policies and efforts to organization the planning phase. effectiveness. a) “To determine if specified target groups or Objectives: organizational domains were appropriately a) To test alternative causal models for explaining included.” (Bernstein and Freeman, 1975) human resource development contributions to b) “To determine if the various practices and organizational effectiveness. intervention efforts (were) undertaken as spe- b) To project the generalizability and adaptability cified in the program designs or derived from of trial human resource development programs/ principles explicated in the design. ”(Bernstein projects for wider organizational application. and Freeman, 1975, p. 19) (“Prognostica tive Evaluation ”-Snyder, et al., c) To obtain evidence of potential problems with, 1981) or alternatives to current practices, including c) To audit evaluations in order to summarize unintended consequences of programlproject major learnings about the organizational performance, and cost-saving measures. effectiveness. (See Standards for Program 2. Program Effect Evaluation. Purpose: to evaluate Evaluation: Exposure Draft, Evaluation Research the extent to which enabling objectives and the Society, 1980, pp. 7-8.)

GAO Review/Spring 1983 431 A Model for the Systematic Internal Evaluation

The Organizational Decisioanmaking Cycle Figure 2 The organizational decisionmaking The Organizational Decisionmaking Cycle cycle, the most explicit integration and the Training Function of internal evaluation and manage- ment decisionmaking, is a succes- sion of decisions beginning with the I 1 development of strategic plans Top management sets through the articulation of opera- performance expectations tional plans to the actual implemen- tation of lines of effort, programs, and projects. Within this cycle, eval- I uation, either formal or informal, is II used to ensure the congruence of Training unit assesses decisionmaking. Figure 2 shows agency needs and sets how this organizational decision- training objectives making cycle would play out within a common functional area, personnel training and development. The ideal planning process for an Training unit reports Training staff propose agency’s training effort would be on its progress to specific programs to based on a well-defined set of orga- top management meet training objectives nizational needs and expectations. The GAO-OOHD evaluation model (figure 1-Anticipatory Evaluation) I helps training managers translate those needs and expectations into Training staff develop training objectives by providing and pilot program plans them the means to assess their strategies in light of agency goals and objectives. The methods for such assessment range from very informal deductive procedures to Training unit monitors Training staff implement sophisticated decision research budgets, policy program and monitor strategies. guidelines, plans quality As part of this Anticipatory Evalu- I J I I ation, training managers can apply two other assessments. First, they can determine program logic and now gaining serious attention. The structural implications of organiza- the extent to which measurable GAO-OOHD model makes explicit tional decisionmaking are discussed results are likely to occur through some of the decision maintenance in the next section. For now, let us the processes of “Evaluability objectives of such Anticipatory just say that administrative hier- Assessment.” And second, they can Evaluations. These objectives rely archies create special demands for test the program design through on comparisons of an implicit na- internal evaluation. The GAO-OOHD pilot runs of the program. ture; e.g., comparing goals to inter- model designates Administrative Once programs have been imple- nally defined criteria for accep- Eva1uat ion objectives to ass ist mented, decisions regarding ongoing tance. Very often, the value of An- decisionmakers regarding resource adjustments to training programs ticipatory Evaluation lies in making distribution and, in some instances, would be aided by the kinds of explicit the criteria for deciding. to provide data which will help objectives cited for the Effort and The traditional roles of program decisionmakers weed out failing Effects Evaluation. Strategic con- evaluation are encompassed in the efforts. This program monitoring cerns of both top agency manage- objectives of the Effort and Effects function of evaluation in organiza- ment and training managers are Evaluation and, to some extent, in tions imposes a demand for infor- addressed in the Organizational the Organizational Impacts Evalua- mation systems which cuts across Impacts Evaluation. tion. However, it is important to note program units and accumulates Due to the recent emphasis on a few ways in which internal evalua- data in an ongoing fashion. risk analysis and decision model- tion demands imply unique objectives The most significant role for ing, the contribution of formal and information products. internal evaluation is often described evaluation procedures during the The implementation of organiza- as the evaluation of organizational planning phases of the organiza- tional strategy and policy occurs at impact. After all, when the time tional decisionmaking cycle are just several levels simultaneously. The comes to make a decision regarding

32 GAO Review/Spring 1983 A Model for the Systematic Internal Evaluation

future commitments to action, the decisionmaker wants to know what Figure 3 worked for the organization, what Structural Requirements of Internal Evaluation did not work, and what will work. In Focusing on the Organizational Training Function the actual implementation of the Program GAO-OOHD model, each human Management Role Top Agency HRMMRD Training resources program or project director Group Management Administrators Managers would be able to provide some evi- Primary Strategic Tactical Operational dence of program effectiveness on Decision the basis of the Effort and Effects Responsibility Evaluation for his or her own area of ~ Key Outlining agency Ranking HRD Selecting “best” responsibility. Generic goals and needs efforts according means to meet It is not acceptable, given current HRD for resources to agency HRD goals. theories of organizational effective- Decisions Defining basic objectives and Allocating prc- ness, to assume that organizational concepts in the goals. Allocat- gram resources relationships of ing HRD resources to lines of impact could be determined by sum- the work force to HRD effort. ming up all these various individual directions of objectives. Adjusting re evaluations. The evaluation of orga- the agency. Applying criteria sources and to quality means to meet nizational impact, rather, is inextric- control. goals ably tied to the organization’s theory of effectiveness. Therefore, the GAO- Primary HRD impacts on Economy in allo- Effectiveness of OOHD model gears the objectives of Evaluation agency objec- cations of HRD program opera- Demand tives. resources. tions in meeting the Organizational Impacts Evalua- Efficiency of program goals tion toward the measurement and HRD efforts. projection of underlying assumptions Compliance of Best approach HRM practices and process ana- about successful human resource and/or efforts lysis management and development. with judicial, legislative, and internal Internal Evaluation policy/quality and the Management standards ~~ Structure Primary 1. Anticipatory 1 Anticipatory 1. Anticipatory Internal Evaluation Evaluation Evaluation For an internal evaluation system Evaluation (Context (Context (Limited Focus Evaluation) Evaluation and Implementation to be useful and valid, it must fit the 2 Organizational Evalua- Evaluation). organizational context. Different Impacts bility As- 2. Effortsand levels of decisionmakers in the Evaluation. sessment) Effects 2. Effort and Evaluation organization require different kinds Effects Evalua- of informat ion. To p-leve I agency tion (Admini- leadership requires broad-based strative). and “future-oriented” data on orga- nizational capabilities. Division- or office-level management probably requires a combination of adrninistra- tive and program effectiveness data. decide where the organization is tion information which are likely to Program directors and project leaders going (strategy planning) and the be most useful, the point which is want to know the specific results of rules for getting there (policy). most important in implementing their efforts and possible ways to 2. Policy Administrators-those this concept of internal evaluation improve performance. The keys to who structure the organization’s is the need to coordinate the de- implementing a comprehensive response to strategic goals and mands of various decisionmaker internal evaluation are the processes administer the organizational mech- audiences. Each manager has some used for determining information anisms which maintain the desired unique information needs. But since needs and the system for gathering, response. managers often occupy several processing, and disseminating the 3. ProjectlProgram Managers- roles in the decisionmaking hier- data. those who made organizational archy, other information needs over- The effectiveness of a systematic objectives operable and manage lap. In addition, managers are faced approach to internal evaluation product ion efforts. with both routine and ad hoc infor- requires that information be useful to Figure 3 provides a simplified picture mation demands. Therefore, to coor- the various and key categories of de- of the structure of managerial evalu- dinate these diversified demands, a cisionmakers. Generally, internal eval- ation demand. management information system uation addresses the requirements Without going into detail concern- must be able to handle data which of three types of decisionmakers: ing the match between the levels of is (a) program or activity specific, 1. Policymakers-those who managers and the types of evalua- (b) comparable and collapsible

GAO Review/Spring 1983 83 A Model for the Systematic Internal Evaluation

across program areas, (c) summable cations for traditional notions of this integration. As we noted several over time, and (d) accessible in eval- evaluation research design. Internal times, the aims of internal evaluation uative formats and arrays. With evaluators cannot treat the use of require a sensitivity to the information respect to the latter point, manage- information as something that demands of different management ment information of an evaluative occurs after the evaluation work is audiences. In turn, this requirement nature should include both indica- done. Given the nature of most of responsiveness implies a system- tors of the current conditions and important organizational decisions, atic approach to the development of indicators of the desired state internal evaluators should be able evaluation models and procedures. which are criteria for judging the to anticipate the form and timing of Perhaps most important to the meaning of the current picture. information before asking a ques- understanding of the concept of tion. In other words, the internal internal evaluation and to the devel- The Role of the evaluator should be an active partic- opment of a working model are the bternal Evaluator ipant in planning activities and have implications for managing informa- the ability to structure routine and tion in a systematic approach to It is difficult to discuss the concept exceptional information strategies. internal evaluation. The unique of internal evaluation without ad- In the final analysis, implementa- issues and problems identified in dressing the role of the internal eval- tion of a systematic internal evalua- the discussion of these requirements uator. Granted, not all the evaluation tion will be judged successful or have significant meaning for those functions discussed here require a unsuccessful on the basis of the who would assume the role of an specialist. However, it’s hard to con- amount of useful information pro- inte rna I eva Iu at or. ceive of a comprehensive function duced. Fortunately, the most apparent without a specially trained person(s) solution to the problem of informa- Bibliography tion overload or “informania” is to implement the requisite systems Attkisson, C C , Hargreaves. W A,, and research projects. simple. The more the evaluator knows about the nature of a man- Horowitz, M J , and Sorenson. J.E Evalua- The relationship between the tion of Human Service Programs. New internal evaluator and decision- ager’s decision, the better able that York’ Academic Press, 1978 evaluator is to tailor feedback. Simi- makers distinguish the internal eval- Bernstein, E N , and Freeman, HE uator from the prototype external larly, the more the manager knows up front about the nature of possible Academic and Entrepreneuring Research program evaluator. The essential New York. Russell Sage Foundation, 1975 evaluation feedback, the more that characteristics of the internal evalu- Cronbach, L J and Associates Toward ator’s role are revealed in the follow- manager can aid the evaluation process. Reform of Program EValUatJOn. San Fran- ing quote (from the highly respected CISCO’ Jossey Bass, 1980. volume by Attkisson, et a/. (1978, The task of integrating evaluation into management decisionmaking Evaluation Research Society. Standards p. 470)). for Program Evaluation Exposure Draft. processes requires a conscious and May 1980 There seems to be a growing collaborating effort on the part of Gerhard, R.J. “The Organizational Imper- consensus that evaluators make managers and evaluators. Managers their most effective contribution ative.” New Directions for Program Evalua- are responsible for providing the tion, 10 NOV 1981, pp. 9-31 when they are ongoing members of type of information needed at the the decisionmaking team. The Kirkpatrick, D L Evduabng Training . . . right time and in a useable format; need for ongoing, direct evaluator Programs. Madison American Society for the internal evaluators must demon- participation in all important admin- Training and Development, 1975 strate the usefulness of evaluation. istrative levels implies that program Kearsley, G and Compton. T. “Assessing evaluation resources are needed at Costs, Benefits and Productivity in Training each major administrative level. . . . Summary Systems ” Training and Development Journal, Much current evaluation effort is January 1981, pp 52-81 still focused on one-time summative Because of the current emphasis Snyder, R.A , Raben C SI and Farr, J.L evaluations.. . . This distribution of on methods for improving manage- “A Model for the Systematic Evaluation of ment accountability and control in Human Resources Programs ” Academy of effort does not match our current Management Review, 5, No 3 (1980). understanding of how to maximize the government and industry, the con- 431 -444 impact of evaluation. Evaluators must cept of internal evaluation is gaining be close enough to the decisionmak- popularity. But this concept requires Stufflebeam, D.L “Introduction to the clarification. The idea of using eval- PDK Book. Educational Evaluation and ing process to group clearly the needs Decision-rnaking,” in Blaine R Worthen and and problems of management.. . . uation tools to improve manage- James R Sanders, Educational Evaluation: ment effectiveness is valuable, but Theory and Practice Belmont, CA Wads- The role of internal evaluator the implications of the concept are worth..~ 1973 uncertain. demands not only technical skills Wholey, J S Evaluation. Promise and and abilities, but, just as important, Inthis paper, we have lookedat the Performance Washington, D C. The Urban

the ability to act as information relationship between management Institute.,- 1979 manager. The internal evaluator decisionmaking and the c6ncepts We,nstein, A raEva,uat,on Through must negotiate management de- found in professional evaluation lit- Medical Records In Handbook of Evaluation mands for information and coordinate erature. On the basis of previous Research, ed Elmer L Struening and a system of response. work in the area, we have presented Marcia Guttentaa vol. I Beverlv Hills ., ~- . I- This requirement has many impli- a tentative model (figure 1) io capture Sage, 1975

84 GAO Review/Spring 1983 GAO and the Accowntimg Profession

Some of the important issues finance Government operations. governments face in their attempts Even more disheartening are the to improve financial management delays in funding decisions, such as are challenging to the accounting those which threatened to interrupt profession. We in GAO have been operations at the Department of involved in many efforts involving Defense, the Internal Revenue Ser- every aspect of government financial vice, and even at GAO. management: budgetary processes, This state of affairs is in no small accounting systems, financial measure the result of our budget reporting, and auditing. GAO believes process, which requires 13 appropri- more attention to the problems in ation bills to be passed each year to each of these areas is urgently fund Federal Government opera- needed, especially in light of Presi- tions. When any of these bills does dent Reagan’s goal to pass more not pass, various Government agen- responsibility and authority to State cies operate on what are termed Charles A. Bowsher and local governments through the continuing resolutions. Essentially, Comptroller General of New Federalism proposals and these resolutions permit agencies block grant legislation. to continue spending at the prior the United States If government is to satisfy the year’s spending levels, but even The following article was adapted from an public’s expectation of greater these resolutions may not be address given by Mr Bowsher to the Amer- accountability over public funds, passed. In any case, using continu- ican Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ especially with the shift in focus away ing resolutions is not an efficient 95th Annual Meeting. held in October 1982 from the Federal level, government way to run a country. For example, if in Portland, Oregon financial management systems the new fiscal year appropriation must be improved. The strong was to be increased or decreased, leadership and commitment of the spending at a previous year’s level accounting profession, along with distorts what the Congress intends the dedicated efforts of GAO, will be with the new appropriation. Lately, required if the improvements are to it seems the Congress is delaying be made and if the public’s demand its vote on more and more funding for efficient government operations decisions-either appropriation is to be met. bills or continuing resolutions-until agencies are threatened with shut- Status of downs, or, as happened in November 1981, until after some agencies financial Management actually do shut down. These delays in Government Today not only affect the efficient and effective operation of Government The Budgetary Process programs, but also the financial markets and the economic stability The first process occurring in the of the country. government financial management The Federal budget process was cycle, and one in which improve last examined comprehensively in ments are critical, is the budgetary 1967. Clearly, it is time for the process. Combined Federal, State, Federal budget process to be and local budgets total nearly $1 tril- overhauled. Such an effort requires lion a year, a level of funding that creating a high-level budget study has severely strained existing bud- group or commission to act as a getary processes. catalyst for badly needed changes in At the Federal level, the budget the Federal budgetary concepts and process has become extremely procedures. complicated and cumbersome. It is Meanwhile, the Congress is con- beset with severe timing problems, sidering changes in the Federal bud- duplication, and an alarming increase get process. One of these changes in using continuing resolutions to is the establishment of a 2-year bud-

GAO Review/Spring 1983 55 GAO and the Accounting Profession

get cycle, which is a major provision President requested the large in- more effective and efficient account- of the proposed Budget Reform Act crease, and the Congress passed it ing systems. GAO is consulting with of 1982. In addition to this provision, to improve military readiness, mod- top financial managers within the the bill is designed to improve con- ernize the forces, and improve the Government, the public accounting gressional control over the budget, quality of life for military personnel. profession, and academia to learn streamline the requirements of the GAO’s examination at selected mili- how we can improve our accounting budget process, improve the legisla- tary bases showed that some of the systems approach. tive and budgetary process by pro- readiness funds were used to buy The 1929 stock market crash was viding additional time for oversight and insert simulated redwood slats the catalyst that forced improved and other legislative activities, and in a chain-link fence at one location accounting and financial reporting provide stability and coherence for and to build a new gatehouse, a visi- in the private sector. The 1975 New recipients of Federal funds. I recently tors center, and a parking area at York City fiscal crisis did the same testified before the Congress that another. Obviously, the relationship for the government sector and has enactment of this bill or some fea- between these expenses and military prompted many State and local gov- tures of it will be an important first readiness is not apparent. ernments to make notable progress step toward bringing greater stability As that same report demonstrates, in developing sound accounting to our Government’s activities, and separate systems inhibit effective systems. Several States now have thus to our economy. communication between the execu- accounting systems that, in whole By themselves, proposed changes tive and legislative branches of Gov- or in part, produce reports in accord- to the Federal budgetary process ernment. Integrated systems, how- ance with generally accepted ac- can solve only some of the problems ever, can provide assurance that the counting principles (GAAP). Also, a in Federal financial management. budget is executed according to number of other States, as well as The other financial management spending plans and that all funds local governments, such as New processes and systems that support are accounted for, including those York City and the Nation’s Capital, Federal policymaking-accounting provided to grantees. So, it is clear have invested a great deal of time and financial reporting, in particular- that the separate systems must be and money improving their account- also need to be strengthened and integrated, and I believe the account- ing systems. This area of accounting integrated with the budgetary process ing profession is in an excellent systems work presents one of the to meet the needs of the Congress position to help. greatest opportunities for the ac- and the executive branch. counting profession to contribute to Accountkg Systems improved government financial Integraking Budget management. Processes and Aceounting In addition to the improvements Internal controls are another area Systems needed in government budgetary in which the accounting profession processes and in integrating these has a great deal of expertise and, Currently, decisionmakers in both processes with accounting systems, therefore, can make a notable con- the executive branch and the Con- the accounting systems them- tribution to improved government gress have to cope with separate selves-the second major area in accounting systems. One reason and sometimes uncoordinated bud- the government financial manage- accounting systems do not function geting and accounting systems. ment cycle-need to be improved. as well as intended is their lack of These systems badly need to be GAO is dedicated to improving the good internal controls. Adequate integrated. One problem with non- usefulness and the reliability of the internal controls form the corner- integrated systems is their inability information provided by Federal stone of a good accounting system, to tie expenditures to specific areas Government accounting systems. but only recently have they begun to of concern. Budgets usually address GAO’s reviews of accounting receive the attention they rightfully significant areas of concern to the systems in operation have shown have deserved for so long. public, such as military readiness. that many agencies maintain mar- Even though effective internal The Federal accounting systems, ginal systems which neither function controls have been mandated by however, are designed to track the way they are intended nor provide law for Federal agencies for over expenditures by type rather than by financial managers with the infor- 30 years, the ever-increasing disclo- area of concern, so a direct relation- mation they need to control and sures of fraudulent activities and ship between funds expended and account for activities. Why? Because ineffective financial procedures areas of concern is usually not pos- many of these systems are poorly existing in many agencies demon- sible, and no assurance can be designed, improperly implemented, strate the inadequacy of many of made that funds are expended as or contain inadequate internal the internal controls. GAO, as well planned. controls. as many other organizations through- An excellent example of this GAO is required by law to review out the accounting profession, feel inefficient relationship between and approve the adequacy of Federal that this situation will improve sub- funds expended and areas of con- agencies’ accounting systems. GAO stantially soon as a result of the cern is contained in GAO’s recent is currently studying its accounting recently passed Federal Managers’ report on how the $72 billion increase systems work to see how agencies Financial Integrity Act of 1982. We between the fiscal 1980 and 1982 can be better encouraged to seek testified in support of this legisla- Defense budgets was spent. The review and approval and to operate tion, as did the AICPA, and the

36 GAO Review/Spring 1983 GAO and the Accounting Profession

Association of Government Accoun- ity on internal controls. With the ments will follow the same policy tants. Also, the firm of Price Water- new Federalism proposals, internal GAO intends to, that is, that they house & Co. played a very active role controls at these levels will become will adopt as many of the GASB and in developing the legislation. even more important. At least two FASB standards as possible. In this The legislation requires ongoing States-California and New York- way I think government accounting evaluations of internal accounting are following the Federal Govern- will become more useful and more and administrative control systems ment’s example and are considering understandable to the outside world. of each executive agency. These legislation similar to the Federal evaluations, conducted according Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of Auditimg to OMB guidelines, will determine 1982. whether the agencies’ internal con- Auditing is the fourth major area trol systems comply with standards Financial Reportisag in which the profession can help to be set by the Comptroller General. bring about needed improvements The legislation calls for an annual Financial reporting is the third in government financial manage- statement, signed by the agency major area in the government finan- ment. Improvements in budgeting, head, attesting to the effectiveness cial management cycle needing the accounting, and financial reporting of the agency’s internal controls. It attention of the profession. Sound will be ineffective without assurance also calls for outlining-if neces- financial reporting is the major that the financial systems are work- sary-a plan and timetable for means public officials use to review ing properly and that full disclosure strengthening any weaknesses their operations and communicate of results will be made at all levels found in the controls. their accountability to the public. To of government. This assurance can To carry out GAO’s responsibility be effective, financial reporting be provided through the audit proc- under the act, I have established a must be based on accepted account- ess, but only if improvements are task force in GAO on internal con- ing principles and standards. In gen- made in that process. trols. Its task will be to consolidate eral, government efforts to establish This need for improvements was GAO’s numerous publications stat- effective and efficient accounting discussed in a 1979 GAO report. ing its policy and standards on inter- principles and standards have According to that report, many Fed- nal controls into a single document. lagged behind private industry’s. eral grants (totaling about $90 billion) As part of this project, we are con- The GASB, which is proposed to are not audited, and substantial sulting with various public account- set accounting principles and stan- duplication often occurs when indi- ing firms to discuss their views on dards for the State and local govern- vidual grants are audited. This infor- internal control standards. We ments, is about to be formed after mation illustrates the critical need expect to publish this document by three years of work and dedication by to improve audit coverage and to the end of this year. several individuals and organizations make the audits more cost effective. Inspectors general also will play a in the accounting profession. The GAO supports the single audit significant role in implementing the principal organizations-including concept as an approach that can legislation because of their continu- GAO; AICPA; the Financial Account- increase audit coverage while it ing responsibility for assessing ing Foundation; the Municipal streamlines the audit process. This agency accounting and administra- Finance Officers Association; the concept will change the focus of tive control systems. Before the first National Association of State Audi- audits from the individual Federal Office of Inspector General was cre- tors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers; grant recipients to the operating ated in 1976 at the Department of and the National Council on Govern- entity at the State or local level. It Health, Education, and Welfare, the mental Accounting-have agreed emphasizes a review of entire finan- Federal agency audit functions on the final proposal for the GASB cial management systems-including were relatively weak. Even agencies’ and returned it to their executive the internal control systems-that assessments of their own account- boards for endorsement. Also, the monitor grants. The single audit ing and administrative control sys- seven public interest groups concept also provides an improved tems were not as strong as they involved in the GASB formation are audit base for performing additional could be. Since then, however, the currently considering endorsement selective compliance, economy and creation of 18 statutory Offices of of it. As it is now envisioned, the efficiency, and program results Inspector General has significantly GASB will be equal to the FASB audits to satisfy specific Federal, changed the organizational place- under the Financial Accounting State, and local user needs. ment and the activities and respon- Foundation. It will have a full-time sibilities of Federal agency audit chair and a part-time board, an The Accounting operations. We expect these assess- annual operating budget of approxi- Professisxa’s Help ments of internal control systems mately $1 to $2 million, and will be (as required by the Federal Man- based in Stamford, Connecticut. It Is Needed To Bring agers’ Financial Integrity Act of will bevery important that all organi- About Chamges 1982) will contribute greatly to im- zations concerned with State and in Gavermament proving internal controls in the Fed- local governmental accounting and hancial Management eral Government. reporting support the GASB, once it State and local governments are is formed. I have discussed many improve- also beginning to place a high prior- I hope that State and local govern- ments needed in the government

GAO Review/Spring 1983 37 GAO and the Accounting Profession

financial management cycle. These books of account; ernment is the AICPA’s publication improvements cannot be made with- continuing to develop consolidated entitled “Federal Conflict-of-Interest out the dedicated efforts of the financial statements for the Federal Laws as Applied to Government Ser- accounting profession working with Government, which will require vice by Partners and Employees of governments at all levels. Many good accounting at the agency Accounting Firms.” This publication, firms probably are involved in pro- accounting and finance centers and developed by the Washington Office viding professional services to gov- the proper flow of information to the of the AICPA, explains the conflict- ernments or will soon be involved central accounting function; of-interest laws so that members of because of the big push toward continuing to have accounting the profession will know the precise improved accounting systems and standards established by and ac- scope and limitations of the laws audited financial statements. When counting systems approved by GAO; and the steps they must take to providing these services, these and comply with them. We need more firms are in an excellent position to performing-in the long run-an such efforts to increase the opportu- greatly improve government account- annual financial audit of the Federal nities and attractiveness of Govern- ing by designing effective systems Govern ment . ment service to members of our that can be audited efficiently, pos- profession. sess strong controls, and produce If these improvements are made GAAP financial reports. to the Federal Government’s finan- * ** * The attention finally being placed cial management systems, I believe on internal controls, especially as an annualfinancial-audit of the Fed- I believe the accounting profession evidenced by the recent passage of eral Government might be both has been making notable contribu- the Federal Managers’ Financial desirable and economical. If we tions in government financial man- Integrity Act of 1982, is an important could ever have 10 to 15 major ac- agement for some time now. But step toward improving the Federal counting and financial centers oper- now more than ever, we must con- Government’s financial management ating on a standard system according tinue to work diligently together. systems and procedures. Several to Comptroller General accounting Such efforts as the possible review efforts are underway to study what standards and a proper flow of of the financial management of the other measures can be taken to financial data to a central account- bring about improvements. For ing function, then we might be ready Federal Government, the commit- example, the President’s Private to have an annual audit of the finan- tees and conferences at which the Sector Survey on Cost Control is cial records and statements of the accounting profession and GAO are working together on government studying many of the problems I Federal Government. As I have men- have discussed here. In addition, tioned, many of our larger cities and financial management, and changes the Reagan Administration is under- counties have moved toward an that are already taking place at the State and local level will go a long taking a multiphased management annual audit and improved account- effort which will address Federal ing systems since 1975. Several of way toward improving government financial management. budget and financial management the States are now moving in that With the public’s ever-increasing systems. direction. Soon, people will ask, The fact that these studies are “Why not the Federal Government?” demand for governmental account- ongoing shows the high level of However, I do not believe that we ability and with the administration’s interest in improving government should embark on an annual audit shift in emphasis from the Federal financial management. When devel- until we know it can be done effi- to other levels of government, it is oping their proposals for the needed ciently. These improvements will extremely important that improve- improvements, these groups should require a substantial investment in ments not only continue to be made, consider several items. In addition personnel and systems. And sup- but also continue with the full involve- to a streamlined budget process port at the highest levels of govern- ment of the accounting profession. and an integration of budget, ac- ment will be vital. With this support, We can make the improvements counting, and other supporting sys- we will ultimately achieve what we that our profession envisions and tems, these items include all want-improved financial man- can meet the public’s demand for agement in the Federal Government. better accountability only if we con- tinue to work together with a strong * consolidating the Federal Govern- Finally, one of the most important sense of commitment and dedication ment’s accounting into several major steps I believe the profession must toward a common goal: effective accounting and finance centers; take to help bring about needed and efficient government financial establishing qualified Chief improvements is to encourage management. Financial Officers at each major more of its members to apply their agency in the Federal Government skills in the government arena. Abbreviations with strong, well-qualified staffs to Other professions, such as law and investment banking, have placed PtlCPA-American Institute of Certified support them; Public Accountants 0 establishing a stronger central many more people in government GASB-Government Accounting Stand- financial management function in than the accounting profession. ards Board the executive branch that would be One recent effort to help public FASB-Financial Accounting Standards responsible for keeping the central accountants enter the Federal Gov- Board

38 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Relocating Witnesses: Neoessary But Administratively Difficult

Witnesses are crucial to the the 1950’s that a major organized successful prosecution of any type crime syndicate of organized criminal activity. No William J. Staab matter how sophisticated Federal . . . will eliminate anyone who stands investigative techniques become, in the way of its success and destroy Mr. Staab has been with GAO since 1970 nearly all criminal trials turn on the anyone who betrays its secrets and He is an evaluator-In-charge in the General testimony of an individual who can will use any means available, includ- Government Division where he is assigned say “I saw him do that” or “I was ing intimidation, to defeat any to audits of the Federal courts and the Justice with him when he did that.” However, attempt by law enforcement to inter- Department He has a bachelor of science the fear of reprisal or retaliation has fere with its operation. degree in accounting from Penn State deterred many potential witnesses Mr Staab’s work earned him Certificates of from testifying. This led to the crea- Before the existence of a formalized Merit from the General Government Division tion in 1970 of a formalized program protection program, witnesses were in both 1981 and 1982 to protect witnesses, the Witness protected on an ad hoc basis. Police Security Program. officers, investigative agents, and While the basic concept of the prosecutors periodically aided wit- Witness Security Program-relocat- nesses whose cooperation with the ing a witness and his or her family Government placed them in jeopardy. and providing them with new identi- The assistance varied and included ties-is fairly uncomplicated, its arrangements for relocating to a implementation and administration new residence, establishing a new has been anything but easy. In pros- identity, or obtaining employment. ecuting high-profile criminals, the Often, the assistance was little Government rarely finds witnesses more than a bus ticket to some who are innocent bystanders at the distant location. commission of a crime. Rather, In the late 1960’s, the Congress prosecution witnesses are usually became increasingly concerned found within the criminal organiza- about the increased influx of “orga- tion and are integrally involved in nized crime” into both illegal and crime themselves. Thus, to gain suc- legal segments of society. Congres- cessful prosecutions in some cases, sional hearings again disclosed that Mark H. Ahrens the Government may have to, in organized crime groups were known essence, “make a deal with the to have murdered, tortured, and Mr Ahrens is an evaluator in the General devil.” threatened witnesses. Law enforce- Government Division. He joined GAO in The very people the Government ment officials testified that this situa- 1978 after receiving a bachelor‘s degree in accounting from James Madison University is forced to deal with have created tion was hampering prosecutions and in Virginia He received Certificates of Merit most of the administrative problems deterring witnesses from cooperat- from the Office of Financial Management that have beset the program. GAO ing with law enforcement agencies. and from the General Government Division recently issued a report that looks Congressional hearings in the in 1979 and 1982, respectively at some of these problems and 1960’s led to the passage of the made recommendations to correct Organized Crime Control Act of them. 1970. The purpose of the act was to eradicate organized crime bystrength- Baekground ening the legal tools used in gathering evidence. Title V of the act autho- Prosecutors and law enforcement rized the Attorney General to provide agents have long recognized that security to persons-and their witnesses who testified against cer- families-intended to be called as tain individuals did so at serious Government witnesses in proceed- risk to themselves and their families. ings against organized crime activity. The Kefauver Committee found in Thus, the Witness Security Program

GAO Review/Spring 1983 39 Relocating Witnesses

was born. The Marshals Service, a services, such as, employment about their pasts in the course of bureau of the Justice Department, assistance, resume preparation, establishing friendships and busi- was given responsibility for the emergency medical treatment, and ness associations in their new loca- program. drug rehabilitation services. This is tions. Adding to that trauma is the The types of cases investigated done to help the witness become never-ending fear that someone and prosecuted with the assistance successfully established in his or from their past might recognize of the Witness Security Program her new community as a law-abiding them and cause them harm. As have changed over the years. Ini- citizen. would be expected, many witnesses tially, the program was intended to Because of the types of persons cannot cope with this drastic life- protect witnesses testifying against who enter the program, however, the style change and have voluntarily persons allegedly engaged in “La Marshals Service’s relocation task returned to their “danger area” Cosa Nostra” activity. As time has proven difficult. Many witnesses despite the threat to their lives. A passed, however, the number of wit- do not make successful adjustments handful have died as a result of this nesses sponsored by other depart- into their new communities. Relo- decision. One witness was blown up mental units increased, and the cated witnesses frequently have when he opened the front door of his prosecutive priorities of the Depart- failed to satisfy civil obligations, residence after he returned to the ment changed, resulting in emphasis and some have been convicted of “danger area.” on other types of crimes. For in- serious crimes. Inherent conflicts also exist in stance, relocated witnesses have basic program goals. The need to been used to prosecute public offi- The “Gamble” keep a witness’ new identity and cials in the FBI’s “Abscam” investi- Sometimes Faails location secret creates problems in gation and in attempts to prosecute helping a witness establish a new members of motorcycle and prison Several factors make the Witness life. For example, witnesses must gangs. Overall, more than 4,000 wit- Security Program difficult to admin- attempt to find work in their new nesses have been admitted to the ister and hinder the chances that locations. However, to protect their program since 1970. relocated witnesses will successf uI ly identities, they cannot provide pro- The basic mechanism used to establish themselves in their new spective employers with any verifiable protect witnesses has also changed communities. First, the program’s employment references. If such ref- since the program’s inception. At basic operating concept-relocation erences were provided and checked, first, witnesses were protected in under a new identity while leaving a link between the witnesses’ past “safe hou ses” (secured f ac i Ii t ies) behind all previous ties-is trau- and their new identities could be where they were provided with matic. Further, inherent conflicts established. Similar problems are round-the-clock protection by deputy exist in this concept. Although wit- encountered when witnesses attempt marshals. Experience showed, how- nesses are assisted in finding em- to establish credit in their relocation ever, that safehouses were not well ployment, verifiable employment area. suited to the realities of protecting references cannot be given as this Obviously, the program would be individuals for several reasons: the would conflict with the goal of con- difficult for the Marshals Service to location of safehouses was often cealing a witness’ identity and loca- administer under the best of circum- inadvertently disclosed, they were tion. The Marshals Service’s job is stances. However, the Marshals Ser- unappealing for individuals not complicated further by the fact that vice usually does not encounter the under a jail sentence or who had most relocated witnesses have best circumstances. An estimated families, and they were not compat- criminal backgrounds, limited edu- 95 percent of the persons admitted ible with the long-term assimilation cation, and often lack marketable to the Witness Security Program of witnesses back into society. job skills. have prior criminal backgrounds. Because of the necessary 24-hour The trauma derives from the basic This creates additional problems in protection, they also were becoming method of providing protection. obtaining jobs for witnesses because prohibitively expensive to operate. Relocating and changing the names the Marshals Service is obliged to For these reasons, the safehouse of persons forces them to totally disclose the general nature of a wit- approach was abandoned. restructure their lives. Under the ness’ criminal background to pro- The Marshals Service now provides program, witnesses and their fam- spective employers. The criminal protection by giving witnesses new ilies must break all direct contact nature of witnesses also requires identities with supporting documen- with nonrelocated family members, the Marshals Service to be especially tation, such as a birth certificate past friends, and associates. In careful in its assistance efforts. and social security card. It also relo- some instances, relocation must Marshals Service officials have cates them to areas free from the occur literally within hours to protect stated that one reason they do not criminal element they testified the life of a witness. Any subsequent give a witness extensive background against and provides them with a communication by a witness with documentation is the potential temporary living subsistence until friends from the “danger area” can liability the Government would incur they can achieve self-sufficiency. only be made in a secure manner, if the documentation is used for The Marshals Service conceals the such as through the use of an anon- fraudulent purposes. new identity and location of a wit- ymous post office box. The trauma Finally, the Marshals Service’s ness. The Marshals Service also of relocation is compounded because efforts to assist a witness in obtain- arranges for other types of social witnesses must often be evasive ing employment are complicated by

40 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Relocating Witnesses

the fact that witnesses often have is relocated in the program with a example that demonstrates this limited marketable job skills andlor minor child or children, and credi- point is the case of Peter Aver. limited education. Education and tors have suffered finan cia Ily Aver was admitted to the Witness job skill information for witnesses because they were hindered in their Security Program in October 1978 admitted to the program during fis- ability to enforce judgments and because he testified in the prosecu- cal year 1981 showed that 59.2 per- collect debts from witnesses. tion of two men in Boston accused cent of their reported labor skills of murdering four others in what were of an unskilled nature and The civil problems experienced became known as the “Blackfriars’ 34.2 percent of the witnesses did not with the program do not result simply Massacre.” Because of his testi- complete high school. In comparison, because witnesses owe money, nor mony, Aver was given a new name Bureau of the Census educational do they result from the fact that the and relocated to Huntsville, Alabama. data indicates that, in comparable debtors are relocated witnesses. However, he left in Boston many age groups, 20.3 percent of the The problems occur because of a creditors who to date have been Nation’s population did not com- dilemma the Justice Department unsuccessful in collecting monies plete high school. During December faces when witnesses ignore court allegedly owed them by Aver. 1980 congressional hearings, a Fed- judgments and fail to repay their After a short stay in Huntsville, eral prosecutor who personally lawful obligations: How does the Aver relocated himself (without sponsored the admission of about agency protect a witness’ secret Government assistance) to Jack- 20 witnesses into the program new identity (and thus their safety) sonville, Florida, where he became summed up the problem they face: while assisting an injured party in involved shortly thereafter as an enforcing a judgment against a undercover‘ operative in the FBI’s The witness, however, has never wit ness? “Resfix” sting operation. However, worked a day in his lifeat an honest The case of Thomas Leonhard Aver left a woman in Huntsville hold- job. His prospects for finding gainful has been the most celebrated case ing a court judgment (worth over employment are less than realistic. of a nonrelocated parent attempting $100,000 in property and money) We would be naive to assume that to enforce parental rights against against him. This woman is still we can take a hardened criminal out the parent in the program. Twice attempting to enforce this judgment of one city, put him in another, and Mr. Leonhard has lost lawsuits at (now over 2 years old) against Aver. then ask him not to engage in crimi- the Federal appellate level. His Aver, who reportedly has been given nal acts, but to be content as a plight was portrayed in Hide in Plain yet another new identity, is currently sanitation worker. Sight, a 1976 book by Leslie Waller, in Federal custody after being con- and in a recent movie by the same victed in Florida of passing bad Consequently, each use of the name. For 8 years, Thomas Leonhard checks and after being convicted of Witness Security Program actually unsuccessfully attempted to get the Federal wire fraud charges. constitutes a “gamble” as to whether Government to tell him where his While certainly representing an relocated witnesses will be able to children (living with his ex-wife and extreme, the difficulties caused by adjust to their lives and become law- a witness) had been relocated so Mr. Aver unfortunately do not repre- abiding citizens under their new that he could enforce his court- sent an isolated example of this identities. Witnesses do not always ordered visitation rights. type of problem. During congres- achieve this goal. In reviewing many Another case that is currently sional hearings in December 1980, a different types of program-related being litigated in Federal appeals Marshals Service official testified information, it is not uncommon to court is that of William Franz. From that 35 letters a month are answered find instances where witnesses had 1974 to 1978, Mr. Franz regularly vis- from creditors or other persons failed to satisfy their debts or had ited his three children. However, in alleging they have been defrauded by committed crimes, some of an February 1978, Franz’s children and witnesses. In GAO’s review, we found extremely violent nature. ex-wife were suddenly relocated that, during a 6-month period in cal- with a Government witness, a self- endar year 1980,36 witnesses owed cid BrobBems admitted organized crime enforcer. or allegedly owed over $7.3 million. Caused by Witunesses Mr. Franz was not told about the The types of persons to whom relocation. Since that time, he has these debts were owed varied from Longstanding problems encoun- been attempting, to no avail, to see private individuals to large com- tered in the Witness Security Pro- his children. Because the Govern- panies and to the Government itself. gram are that witnesses have ignored ment maintains it has a duty to pro- There were doctors seeking to their civil oblilgations and innocent tect the security of the witness and recover money for services rendered, citizens often have had difficulty in his family, it will not reveal their nonrelocated parents seeking to enforcing court judgments against location to Mr. Franz. This prevents collect child support, a woman witnesses. Our work showed that Mr. Franz from going before an seeking to recover a personal loan, appropriate court to seek legal a stock brokerage firm seeking to Separated or divorced parents who assistance to enforce his parental recover money from a former em- were not in the program have encoun- rights. tered hardships trying to enforce A less emotional but more frequent their legally established parental problem occurs when witnesses rights against the other parent, who don’t pay their lawful debts. A recent See WITNESSES, P. 55

GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 41 Measuring Student Academic Progress: A Case Study

. A private, 4-year college requires Our work in this area presents an students receiving Federal aid to interesting case study for program attain a minimum grade point aver- evaluators because it shows the age of 0.5 (an “F-plus”) on a 4.0 scale complexities of administering and by the end of the first year. The evaluating student aid where the requirement increases with each Government, students, institutions Frankie I,. Fulton successive year, with a 2.0 required of higher education, and other orga- for graduation. Because of these nizations form a unique partnership. Mr Fulton is an evaluator in the Atlanta low standards, more than 40 percent It is an area of immense complexity, Regional Office A graduate of Austin Peay of the students on aid have averages where right and wrong often depend State University, he has been with GAO on one’s perspective and where cir- since 1969 He is a member of the Associa- below 2.0, and more than 20 percent tion of Government Accountants and have averages below 1.5 (a “D-plus”). cumstances are heavily influenced received GAO’s Meritorious Service Award 0 A student at a community by a set of constantly changing vari- in 1982 Mr Fulton is currently enrolled in college receives more than $9,000 in ables. A full understanding of the the Woodrow Wilson College of Law Federal aid over a 4-year period, issues requires first an understand- completing only 60 of 108 credit ing of the many diverse elements hours attempted and never attaining that make student aid work, then an a grade point average sufficient to appreciation for the difficulties in graduate. She attempts five courses setting and enforcing Federal require- three times each and two other ments in an area where academic courses twice each, with only the freedom is paramount. last grades received included in her grade point average. A College Educat5on: 0 A student at another community The Dream college obtains an associate degree in nursing, assisted by more than Becomes Eeality $5,000 in Federal aid. After obtaining A college education has long this degree, she remains in school been an integral part of the American for two more quarters, receiving an Dream. Parents coming out of the additional $2,000 in aid to pursue long, hard years of the Depression such general interest courses as and two world wars saw education automotive electric systems, archi- for their children as a solid start Susan G. Stanley tectu re construction, beginning toward a better life than they them- snow skiing, and yoga. selves had known. For some, college Ms Stanley is an evaluator in the Seattle was only one of many stops on the Regional Office A graduate of the University of Washington with a B A degree in account- Shocking? Certainly. Flagrant way up. For others, it was a ticket ing. she joined GAO’s Seattle Regional disregard for Federal requirements? out of a life of poverty and missed Office in 1974 She is a certified public Not at all. In fact, the above examples opportunities. For still others, a col- accountant (Washington) fall perfectly within the parameters lege degree was an end in itself, sig- set for the appropriate Federal stu- nifying that a person had “made it.” dent aid programs. And therein lies And yet, all too often, a college the problem. education was the exclusive privilege In a recent review of academic of the advantaged. Always available progress standards for students to the well-to-do, college remained receiving Federal aid, we found only a dream to many from middle- case after case of students who had and lower-income families where received thousands of dollars in aid the financial resources to make it without demonstrating the desire or happen simply did not exist. There potential to complete their programs were always the oft-cited examples of study. While examples such as of the poor but brilliant and hard- those above were not exactly typical, working types who received scholar- they did occur with enough fre- ships or worked their way through quency to point to an underlying school but, for most, money remained weakness in Federal requirements. a huge and often insurmountable

42 GAO Review f Spring 1983 Measuring Student Academic Progress

obstacle. scope, aimed at relatively small ing aid from these three sources, Federal support to students in numbers of students in specific tar- although this is not always the case higher education goes back many get groups. Some offer benefits that in smaller programs. Second, there years. Among the earliest and most are not even known to the vast is sufficient contrast among the popular forms of support was the majority of people. requirements in each program to G.I. Bill, which enabled thousands In recent years, however, three make some general evaluations of of veterans to go to college. Aid on a providers of funding have stood out their effectiveness. Third, there are broad-based level did not really as being the largest sources of Fed- considerable differences in the begin until the late 1950’s, however, eral student aid: the Department of manner in which the three agencies when the National Defense Student Education (ED), the Veterans Admin- administer the programs. VA is Loan program began a trickle of aid istration (VA), and the Social Security heavily involved in monitoring that was later to become a torrent. Administration (SSA). In 1980, these school and student performance; With passage of the Higher Educa- agencies provided more than $9.1 bil- ED, to a much lesser extent; and tion Act in 1965, student aid for the lion in direct aid, and were respon- SSA, practically not at all. economically disadvantaged sible for billions more through loan became a major national objective, guarantees and matching funds. What Is and Federal funds available for this The largest single source of Academic Progress? purpose began to mushroom. student aid is ED, which offers Today, student aid is big business assistance to postsecondary stu- Although not always specifically on college campuses. It is an indus- dents under five major programs. defined, an undergirding principle of try in itself, employing thousands of These are the Pel1 Grant, an entitle- student financial aid is that a recipi- professional personnel who spend ment program for students who ent should make satisfactory aca- years mastering the intricacies of meet certain low-income and cost- demic progress. Requirements vary, packaging aid for students and of-school requirements; the National but the general aim is to ensure that administering the requirements of Direct Student Loan, Supplemental a student is moving toward an edu- the various programs. Student aid is Educational Opportunity Grant, and cational goal at a reasonable rate now available through a myriad of College Work-Study Program, all while making acceptable grades. programs, offering benefits to stu- administered directly by participat- Simply stated, a student should be dents from middle-income families ing schools; and the Guaranteed able to prove he or she has the as well as the economically disad- Student Loan, available from com- desire and the ability to use public vantaged. Also, aid is available to mercial sources to qualifying stu- funds for the purpose intended. Thus, students seeking technical training dents. In total, these programs were with the right comes a responsibility. beyond the high school level as well responsible for about $9.2 billion in What is academic progress? This as those enrolled in traditional col- aid in fiscal year 1980, with an actual question is largely unanswerable leges and universities. Federal outlay of about $5.3 billion. because of the many variables Despite this increased availability, A second major source of student involved. Like beauty, progress is many problems in providing aid to benefits is VA, which provides edu- often in the eyes of the beholder. those who need it still exist. Many cational benefits to veterans and What constitutes acceptable prog- students, for example, find that the certain dependents. In fiscal year ress at one school might get a stu- amounts of aid available are not 1980, VA benefits totaled about dent suspended at another. Certainly always a match for the skyrocketing $2.3 billion. a school has the right to some flex- costs of a postsecondary education. Finally, social security benefits ibility in setting academic standards, And recently, there has been consid- are available to the children of since the aid recipient is first and erable discussion on cutbacks in deceased, disabled, or retired con- foremost a student at that institu- Federal aid, or at least in redistribut- tributors. To be eligible, the child tion. At the same time, however, the ing it among programs. Also, there must be unmarried, under 22 years public interest must be protected by is the problem of administering the of age, and attending a postsecond- ensuring that the limited supply of billions of dollars distributed among ary institution full time. This program aid is not abused by students unwill- thousands of institutions and mil- is now being phased out, with the ing or unable to meet minimum lions of students to ensure that last benefits to be paid in fiscal year levels of performance. Another ele- abuse is not taking place. 1984, but in fiscal year 1980, benefits ment often overlooked is the respon- to postsecondary students totaled sibility to the student, who should Soraroes of $1.6 billion. be encouraged to seek that program Student Aid In our review of academic progress best suited to his or her abilities and standards, we focused on benefits interests. Literally dozens of Federal pro- provided by these three agencies. The three agencies providing the grams offer financial assistance to The primary reason for this focus is bulk of student aid have treated the students enrolled in postsecondary obvious: the bulk of the money avail- problem of determining academic educational institutions. Some are able is concentrated in these pro- progress in completely different well known and offer benefits to grams. Other reasons, however, ways. VA, with the most rigid Federal thousands of students from all made them attractive for an evalua- requirements, requires that a school social and economic strata; others tion of this type. First, schools can must have an approved standard are severely restricted in their usually identify the students receiv- meeting certain specific criteria. In

GAO Review/Spring 1983 43 Measuring Student Academic Progress

addition, it requires that a student problem was that the schools often In total, GPAs for students receiv- be enrolled in an approved course of set their standards too low or failed to ing ED and SSA aid were lower than study, have a specific objective, and consider all the elements necessary those receiving VA benefits. Nearly make progress toward that objective. to measure progress. The cause: 20 percent of ED aid recipients and A major provision of the VA require- inadequate Federal requirements. 23 percent of SSA aid recipients in ment is that students can be paid Overal I, VA students typically the GAO samples had cumulative only for courses leading to program made better progress than students GPAs of less than a 2.0; only 12.4 per- completion. receiving ED or SSA benefits. Al- cent of VA aid recipients had cumu- Requirements for ED programs though only one factor of numerous lative GPAs of less than 2.0. Even are considerably more lenient. probable factors which led to this worse, 9.5 percent of ED aid recipi- Schools must establish standards result of better progress, VA required ents and 10.8 percent of SSA aid for academic progress but receive much more of both schools and stu- recipients had less than a 1.5 GPA; no guidance on what these stan- dents in establishing, enforcing, only 3.5 percent of the VA aid recipi- dards should include. and complying with academic prog- ents had GPAs at that level. The SSA program has no require- ress standards. Another factor greatly influencing ments for academic progress. As As noted earlier, there is no one the measurement of academic prog- long as an eligible student can stay magic formula for determining aca- ress is the treatment of nonpunitive in school full time, he or she can demic progress. In closely evaluating grades given for withdrawals, courses continue to receive benefits. Unlike the Federal requirements and the not completed, and courses repeated. the VA and ED programs, the SSA standards of the 20 institutions Possibly the most common of these program does not even have an aca- GAO visited, however, we eventually is withdrawals. While allowing stu- demic progress requirement in its isolated those factors which affect dents to withdraw from courses authorizing legislation. the measurement of progress and without penalty of a failing grade is which we believe must be consid- an acceptable practice in itself, a Selecting hstikutions ered in establishing a standard. policy which is too lenient can artifi- for These factors include such items as cially inflate a student’s GPA and Visits minimally acceptable grade point distort the measurement of real Choosing a representative group averages, an equitable policy on progress. Such was the case at one of institutions for site visits in evalu- awarding nonpunitive grades, and a school where a student with a cum- ating student aid programs is a for- rate-of-progress requirement to ulative GPA of 2.3 had actually com- midable, if not impossible, task. The ensure a student moves through a pleted only 20 of 47 credit hours sheer number of schools, with more program at a reasonable pace. attempted, while receiving $5,400 in than 7,700 participating in ED’S Pel1 The most popular and most nearly ED aid. A student at another school Grant program alone, is the first standardized method for measuring had maintained a GPA near a 2.0 problem. Couple that problem with academic progress is the grade over eight semesters by withdrawing the fact that no two institutions are point average (GPA). Schools nor- from 57 of 115 hours attempted, alike. There are 2-year schools and mally require a student to have a receiving more than $6,900 in ED aid 4-year schools, public schools and cumulative GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale during this period. School policies private schools, and proprietary (a “C” average) to graduate. The on withdrawals were often quite per- schools. Institutions may vary in GPA standard applied during the missive, sometimes allowing a stu- size from 100 or so students to more years before graduation is often dent to withdraw without penalty up than 50,000. Admissions standards much less than 2.0, however. While to two-thirds of the way through a range from those which are open to allowing a low interim GPA require- term. One school had even let stu- virtually anyone who applies to ment is not wrong in itself, it can dents withdraw after they had taken those which take only a few of the lead to a situation where the student the final examination. most highly qualified applicants. stays in school on Federal aid for Students who have not met all the The variations of academic stan- years without making satisfactory requirements of a course by the end dards, curricula, and course offerings progress toward graduation. of a term are typically assigned a are endless. As an example, a community grade of “incomplete,” with the college visited had no GPA require- understanding a regular grade will GAO Findings: ment for the first 30 semester hours be awarded when the requirements Standards TOQLow attempted, which means a student are met. Academic progress stan- could attend full time for a year and dards are weakened by policies that Our analysis of transcripts and aid a half before being subjected to the are too permissive in awarding records at the schools visited con- standard. The minimum GPA applied incomplete grades or do not require firmed the findings of previous GAO was a 1.5, which never changed as them to be cleared promptly. One work in the area: many students long as the student remained in college visited allowed students an receiving Federal student aid were school. A student could not gradu- entire year to clear incomplete not making real academic progress. ate, however, until his or her GPA grades and did not even strictly This is not to say that either schools reached a 2.0. Under this standard, a enforce this policy. Consequently, or students were not following student could theoretically receive student GPAs were higher than they established standards because, for aid for years without achieving the would have been if failing grades the most part, they were. The real grades necessary to graduate. had been assigned.

44 GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 Measuring Student Academic Progress

Policies on grades for repeated dents in a limited number of cases. tinue to permit schools flexibility in courses vary greatly among schools. We also found that four schools establishing academic progress In computing the GPA, some schools were not adequately enforcing stan- standards, but they should also set include all the grades achieved, dards for VA recipients; however, we certain parameters within which others only the highest grade, and were unable to determine the level such standards should fall. still others only the last grade. A of overpayments because VA bene- This recommendation was the policy which fails to include all the fits go directly to the student rather basic thrust of our report, “Students grades received or allows students than through the school. Receiving Federal Aid Are Not Mak- to repeat courses a number of times ing Satisfactory Academic Progress: raises questions about the ability to What Cam Be Done? Tougher Standards Are Needed” measure progress. One student who (HRD-82-15), issued in December had received more than $8,400 in ED While our findings could not be 1981. In May 1982, the Secretary of aid had attempted the same speech projected nationwide, setting ade- Education proposed new regulations course eight times and the same quate standards of academic prog- for academic progress under ED sociology course five times without ress was clearly a problem. But student financial assistance pro- passing either. A student at another what can be done? How can the grams, drawing from recommenda- school had taken accounting prin- Government ensure that schools tions included in the GAO report, ciples five times, earning three F’s establish adequate standards for the policy statement by the American and two D’s. students receiving aid without Council on Education, and a quality Sometimes the problem with infringing on the schools’ rights to control study on Pel1 Grants con- nonpunitive grades is the sheer num- establish academic requirements tracted by ED. The new regulations ber awarded. One school awarded consistent with their own goals? continue to permit schools to set 15 different letter grades of which One answer to the problem is to their own standards of progress. only 5 affected a student’s GPA. encourage the institutions them- However, these standards must During one term, nonpunitive grades selves to develop effective self- adhere to policies generally accepted accounted for almost half of the regulatory standards. To this end, by the postsecondary education grades awarded by the school. the American Council on Education community as a whole. Another factor greatly influencing published a policy statement in Under the proposed regulations, a academic progress is a student’s December 1981 outlining general school must conform with the stan- rate of progress toward his or her guidelines for academic progress dards of academic progress estab- educational goal. At the schools proposed by the American Associa- lished by an institution’s nationally GAO visited, the standards often tion of Collegiate Registrars and recognized accrediting agency. If no included no quantitative measure of Admissions Officers and the National such agency standards exist, or if progress. Less than half of the stu- Association of Student Financial an institution is not accredited, the dents receiving aid were progressing Aid Administrators. This statement institution must incorporate the ele- at a rate to graduate within 4 years. urged schools to establish and pub- ments of a standard developed by Some students were several terms lish effective standards for academic the postsecondary education com- behind. progress that are consistent with munity. These elements are grades, Nothing is wrong with allowing each school’s academic objectives work projects completed or other students extra time to complete pro- and own diversity of students. School factors measurable against a norm, grams unless this becomes the standards should set a reasonable and a timeframe for program com- norm. The minimum requirement for length of time for a student receiv- pletion. Also, a standard must be a student receiving a Pel1 Grant for ing aid to complete a program; pro- consistently applied and must VA assistance is 12 credit hours per vide a statement on the effects of define the impact of incompletes, term. By continually enrolling for course incompletion, course with- withdrawals, course repeats, and the minimum number of hours, drawal, course repetition, and non- noncredit courses. Finally, there many students otherwise making credit remedial courses; include must be provision for appeal and progress move toward program procedures for the appeal and rein- reinstitution of aid upon correction completion at a slow rate. This statement of aid lost; and ensure of academic progress deficiencies. could be a potentially serious prob- that an evaluation of aid eligibility is In August 1982, Senators Claiborne lem in the Pel1 Grant program, which made at established intervals, at Pel1 of Rhode Island and Donald no longer places limitations on the least once a year. Nickles of Oklahoma introduced a number of years a student may While GAO agreed that improved bill (S. 2822) to amend the Higher receive aid. self-regulation is an effective way to Education Act, requiring minimum In addition to inadequate stan- attack the problem, we also believed levels of progress that must be dards, we found that some schools there was still a need for better cri- achieved by students receiving ED did not even enforce the standards teria at the Federal level. There is financial assistance. This amend- they had implemented. Five schools really no good reason for three Fed- ment goes even further than the had consistently failed to enforce eral agencies having policies so dif- GAO recommendations by actually standards for ED programs, leading ferent. A need exists for a more to overpayments of about $1.28 mil- nearly uniform set of guidelines that lion. Three other schools had not can be applied to all forms of assis- enforced their standards on ED stu- tance. These guidelines should con- See PROGRESS, P. 56

GAO Review/Spring 1983 45 A Week’s Worth

I MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

David G. Sapp

Mr. Sapp, a senior evaluator in the Mission Momday a call from GAO’s liaison officer in Analysis and Systems Acquisition Division, the Office of the Secretary of Defense. joined GAO in 1970 He holds a B S degree “It’s raining.” After reviewing the letter which from Fairmont State College, Fairmont, was finishing my warm-up exer- W Va Mr Sapp is a member of the American I announced GAO’s audit, the liaison Defense Preparedness Association, the cises when my wife Rae Ann pro- questioned how our survey differs International Test and Evaluation Associa- vided this weather report. We won’t from an assignment the Boston tion. and GAO’s GS-l3/14 Management and do any running this morning. The regional office staff is doing on the Policy Advisory Council He has received traffic on 1-95 was slow and heavy, a Trident submarine program. Having numerous awards from his division usual condition when it rains. coordinated with Boston, I explained Upon arriving at work, my first that my focus was primarily on the order of business was to summarize development and procurement of the observation I made at last Fri- the missile system rather than on day’s entrance conference with the the submarine itself. My group’s Navy project office. I am the evalua- involvement with the submarine pro- tor in charge of a survey assessing gram is only to the extent that the the Navy’s development and pro- missile system affects submarine curement of the Trident II submarine- cost, schedule, and future force launched ballistic missile system. levels. The liaison officer was satis- Although I have worked on various fied with my explanation. Department of Defense weapon sys- I checked my calendar and noted tem assignments over the past a reminder to follow up and confirm 6 years, this is my first major effort my attendance at an upcoming involving a strategic system. The nuclear weapons orientation course. Trident II missile is a high-visibility I called an administrative aide at the program in the Congress and has an Federal Emergency Management estimated $8 billion cost for system Agency to verify their receipt of the research and development. paperwork and found they had not Later in the morning, I met with received my security clearance Mark Wielgoszynski, who works information which had been mailed with me on this assignment, and out weeks earlier. I skipped lunch to David Brinkman, the assignment prepare and deliver the information manager, to discuss last Friday’s to their security office. entrance conference. We agreed the When I returned, I had a message meeting was very effective in pre- to call our primary point of contact senting survey objectives, assign- at the Trident II project office. Upon ment timeframes, organizations to calling, I was asked if a briefing can be contacted, and the various Tri- be rescheduled for this Wednesday dent ll program aspects to receive morning. I know Mark will not be specific attention. The Navy repre- available, but I agreed to the Change sentatives raised only a few ques- since the information will be valuable tions, and we scheduled a number in preparing the survey audit program. of follow-on interviews with key pro- Mark was due for a performance gram officials. During this morning’s evaluation this week, so I spent discussion, we decided to begin most of this afternoon completing finalizing the survey guidelines. it. Late in the day, I received a call I returned to my office and received from Andrea Kole in the Office of

46 GAO Review/Spring 1983 A Week‘s Worth

General Counsel. Andrea and I are records, it’s an ongoing concern in ing the Trident II assignment. on the same GS-l3/14 Management defense assignments. I asked Bob if Next, I was escorted to another and Policy Advisory Council study he would refresh my memory on area where one of the branch heads group. The Council held its quarterly GAO’s access rights and legal pro- had prepared a three-part slide pres- meeting last week in Washington, cedures. A few other interested entation. I had a number of questions, and our group was assigned the people asked if they could sit in on and the first part of the presentation, office’s Front-End Goal Test. Andrea the discussion. Bob went through normally running 20 minutes, took called to see if I could attend a an informal summary of our access over2 hours. Since it was getting late meeting later this week. Dick Fogel, rights, past access problems, and and I had an early afternoon meeting director of the Office of Program the procedure used to resolve those at the Pentagon, no one objected to Planning, wants to discuss how the problems. He made it clear that he is scheduling a meeting Friday morning Council can get involved with the anxious to help if there is a problem. to finish the presentation. test. I didn’t have any conflicts, and Getting back to my original project I caught the subway to the Penta- Andrea said she would get back of the day, I continued going over the gon and had a quick lunch. Having a with me. workpapers. I prepared a list of ques- few minutes before the meeting, I I finished the performance evalua- tions for tomorrow morning’s meeting stopped to see our Navy liaison, tion and stopped by David Brinkman’s with the project office and finished Aaron Cohen. Aaron said he received office to drop it off. We discussed a portion of the audit program. some positive feedback from the the evaluation and some issues After work, I attended the first Trident II missile project office con- involving our ongoing assignment session of a stop-smoking program cerning our entrance conference. until it was time to catch my vanpool. in which I’m enrolled. My New Year’s We briefly discussed the assign- resolution finally caught up with me. ment status, and I had to rush to Tuesday I have needed this for quite a while make my meeting. and look forward eventually to out- I arrived at Captain MacClary’s At the top of my “to do” list is running Rae Ann in a 6-mile race. office, and we exchanged a few reviewing the Trident II survey work- pleasantries. After I briefly described papers and firming up the audit pro- Wednesday GAO’s assignment objectives, time- gram. This involves a considerable frames, and areas of interest, we amount of reading, analysis, and The first thing I did this morning discussed the overall program, and planning. Although not very exciting, was check to see if either David the captain recommended a number it’s an essential part of assignment Brinkman or Bernie Easton could of additional contacts. I asked for management. attend this morning’s meeting. Both copies of three program documents While I was going through the were tied up, so I caught the subway prepared by the Office of the Secre- workpapers, Bernie Easton, the stra- to Crystal City, Virginia, where the tary of Defense, and we ended our tegic systems group director, came project office is located. meeting by arranging to meet again by. He wants me to give additional The project office takes up three Friday afternoon. details on the assignment to an offi- floors of an office building and is a Back to the subway. At the office, cial who called this morning from high-security area. Clark Gibbons, I found I had enough time to write up the Office of the Secretary of Defense. our Navy point of contact for this the day’s discussions. That’s good; I I called and scheduled a meeting assignment, met me and checked didn’t want to take work home this tomorrow afternoon at the Pentagon. me through the guard desk. Clark evening. Our new house came with a I went by David Brinkman’s office indicated that before I received the steep backyard, and tonight I’m going to see if he wanted todiscuss Mark’s presentation on the project office’s to make some plans for landscaping. evaluation. Everything was in order, organization and functions, one of and we got together with Mark for a the project directors wanted to dis- Thursday counseling session. cuss a request for documents I Back in my office, I got a surprise made during the entrance confer- Mark stopped by early this morning visit from John Alexander of our ence. I tend to be a pessimist prior to discuss the meetings I had yes- Huntsville staff. John and I worked to these types of discussions be- terday. I gave him the documents I together on a previous assignment, cause l am always aware of potential received and the corresponding and we reminisced for a while. Our problems with access to records. writeups, and I made sure he would MASAD subdivision has always I’m glad I talked to Bob Parker about be available for tomorrow’s meet- gotten good support from Huntsville, this matter yesterday. However, the ings. We also discussed moving to and John is an example of the quality project director was very reasonable. the project office for the remainder of their staff. He asked me to get some of the docu- of the survey. Working on-site sup- After lunch, I stopped by Bernie ments from the Officeof thesecretary ports our divisional philosophy that Easton’s office to brief him on the of Defense since that organization “there are no findings in the GAO Trident II assignment status. On my prepared the information. I can take building.” way out, I ran into Bob Parker, our this up with the appropriate officials Next, I finished my travel order for divisional contact in the Office of during my meeting at the Pentagon next week’s training seminar. When I General Counsel. Although lately I this afternoon. I concluded the dis. dropped it off for typing, I remem- have not encountered any problems cussion by arranging for an on-site bered I had not yet briefed Walt with gaining access to agencies’ office for the GAO staff to use dur. Sheley, MASAD’s director, on last

GAO Review/Spring 1983 47 A Week’s Worth

week’s GS-13/14 Council meeting. I my GS-13/14 Council meeting notes could use, so we decided to spend stopped by Mr. Sheley’s office and for tomorrow’s appointment. the afternoon at the project office ’ made an appointment for early reviewing a number of documents tomorrow morning. Friday identified during the morning’s I checked my correspondence box presentation. and found Andrea Kole had called to I arrived at work this morning a little early to prepare for my meeting Mr. Gibbons had the information tell me she couldn’t get the Council available when Mark and returned with Mr. Sheley. Last week’s GS-13/14 I members coordinated for the meet- from lunch. The material provided a Council meeting began with remarks ing with Dick Fogel this week. There good overview of certain technical from Comptroller General Bowsher was also a note from Les Farrington, aspects of the program and gener- and ended with a number of Council one of our group directors, asking if ated a number of discussion topics. projects being defined. These proj- I would drop by his office after I scheduled a meeting for later next ects will require a considerable lunch. I then stopped by David Brink- week, requesting a briefing on the amount of work before the next man’s office to give him a summary Trident II development program meeting. In my talk with Mr. Sheley, I of yesterday’s meetings. I spent the status and the missile’s effect on highlighted the numerous speakers remainder of the morning working the Trident submarine configuration. on the Trident II audit program. and presentations which received the Returning from lunch, I ran into a Council’s attention. Mr. Sheley is very Before leaving Crystal City, I coworker from our mission analysis supportive of the Council and appre- called Captain MacClary’s office subgroup who has some workpapers ciated the report on our activities. and arranged to stop at the Pen- from a previous assignment which I met Mark and we caught the tagon to pick up some documents I was related to the Trident II missile subway to the project office in had previously requested. Captain program. I arranged to use the work- Crystal City. Today their security MacClary arrived a few minutes papers during the Trident II survey. office had some trouble locating our later, and we briefly discussed the Trident II missile development I dropped by Les Farrington’s clearance information. I made a office. Les is MASAD’s expert on mental note to request a temporary status and various technical aspects of the missile’s configura- Department of Defense matters project office identification card for related to evaluation. The Manage- the remainder of the assignment. tion. The captain briefly summar- ment College sponsors a l-week Clark Gibbons escorted us to the ized the documents he gave us, and we agreed to contact him if we course on test and evaluation in briefing room, and we resumed the needed any further clarification, which Les and I present a segment on presentation at part two. The pres- GAO’s view of the test and evaluation entation went into detail concerning After getting back to the GAO performed by the military services. project management and overall building, I logged in and read the The experience has been beneficial acquisition strategy. An interesting documents we had picked up. I in establishing contacts within the aspect of their organization is the made some notes and prepared a test community and providing the existence of a Program Evaluation list of follow-on questions to be pur- military services with a better under- Branch. The branch provides the sued later. l then took a moment to standing of GAO’s role and respon- program manager with an indepen- reflect on this week’s events. All in sibilities. This afternoon Les wanted dent assessment of virtual Iy a II all, the week had been hectic but to discuss an upcoming course. We aspects of the ongoing program. I productive. get together periodically and discuss had a good discussion with the After work, Rae Ann and I met our parts of the presentation which may branch manager over the role and MASAD coworker John Hutton and need to be updated or clarified. reporting methods his office uses in his wife Debbie for dinner at their After meeting with Les, I got relation to how GAO selects and favorite Irish restaurant in Old Town together with Mark to review the performs assignments. Everything Alexandria. We wound down by talk- progress on the Trident II assignment went smoothly, and we finished just ing about the week’s activities but and prepare for tomorrow’s meeting. before lunch. quickly made the transition into the I returned to my office and organized Mr. Gibbons found an office we weekend by listening to Irish music.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 Legislative Developments

Judith Hatter

Federal Managers’ Tax Equity and Financial Integrity Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 Act of 1982

Public Law 97-255, September 8, The Tax Equity and Fiscal Respon- 1982, 96 Stat. 814, the Federal Man- sibility Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-248, agers’ Financial Integrity Act of September 3,1982,96 Stat. 324) con- 1982, amends the Accounting and tains several references to the work Auditing Act of 1950 to require of the General Accounting Office. ongoing evaluations and reports on The Comptroller General is to the adequacy of systems of internal monitor and evaluate a study and accounting and administrative con- report by the Secretary of Health trol of each executive agency. and Human Services on whether or Internal accounting and adminis- not the reimbursement method and trative controls are to be established benefit structure (including copay- in accordance with standards pre- ment) for hospice care under title XVlll scribed by the Comptroller General. of the Social Security Act are fair The Director of the Office of and equitable and promote the most Management and Budget, in consul- efficient provision of hospice care. tation with the Comptroller General, Title V of the law, “Airport and is to establish guidelines for the Airway Improvement Act of 1982,” evaluation by agencies of their sys- provides for airport development tem of internal accounting and and airport planning by project administrative control. grants. GAO is provided access to

GAO Review/Spring 1983 49 Legislative Developments

records of grant recipients for pur- audit and report to Congress on a conferees hope that these reports poses of audit. semiannual basis on the net worth will advise them as to possible mod- In cases where independent certificate programs of the Federal ifications to the existing loan con- audits which may be required by the Deposit Insurance Corporation and solidation authority of SLMA and the Secretary of Transportation are the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. feasibility of extending such autho- made, the grant recipients are to file rity to State guarantee agencies. a certified copy of the audit with the Job Training The bill was enacted into law on Comptroller General. October 13, 1982. (Public Law 97-301) On or before April 15 of each year, The Job Training Partnership Act, the Comptroller General is to report Public Law 97-300, October 13, 1982, Operational Testhng to Congress describing the results contains an amendment to the and Evaluation of each audit conducted or reviewed Wagner-Peyser Act requiring the by him during the preceding fiscal Comptroller General to evaluate the Senator David Pryor of Arkansas year. expenditures by States of funds introduced S. 3001, “Operational Title VI, “Federal Supplemental received in order to assure that Testing and Evaluation Act of 1982,” expenditures are consistent with Compensation Act of 1982,” provides to create within the Department of for payment to States having agree- the provisions of the act and to Defense an independent Office of determine the effectiveness of the ments for the payment of Federal Operational Testing. During his State in accomplishing the purposes supplemental compensation. The comments on the legislation, Sena- Secretary of Treasury, prior to audit of the act. tor Pryor indicated he has “asked or settlement by GAO, is to make the General Accounting Office, the these payments to States in accord- Military Medical investigative arm of Congress, to ance with a certification by the Faomties conduct an intensive review of the Secretary of Labor. Constructiom Defense Department’s operational The Internal Revenue Code is testing system. This request asks amended with respect to disclosure Legislation recommended by the GAO to look for weaknesses in of returns and return information for GAO to provide realistic sizing crite- the system and find out if test data use in certain audits by GAO. The ria for the construction of military compiled by the services gives us a authority is expanded to include any medical facilities, taking into con- valid and reliable indication of how returns or return information obtained sideration retired personnel and weapons will perform in real-life by a Federal agency for use in any their dependents, was enacted into situations.”’ agency program or activity. GAO is law on October 15, 1982. (Public permitted access to returns and Law 97-337) Debt Collection return information that have not Referring to GAO studies describ- been obtained by the agency in cer- Student Loan ing “the Federal Government’s poor tain circumstances, provided that Marketing Assaciatiom performance in collecting overdue the agency is authorized to obtain debts,” Senator Roger W. Jepsen of the information for use in the pro- The conference report on S. 2852, Iowa introduced S. 3020, which gram or activity that is the subject Student Financial Assistance Tech- establishes a Presidential Advisory of the GAO audit. nical Amendments Act of 1982 Panel for Coordination of Govern- (H. Rept. No. 97-887) contains a ment Debt Collection and Delin- Net Worth request by the conferees that GAO quency Prevention Activities. He Guarantee Act conduct an extensive review of the further states, “I am convinced that Student Loan Marketing Associa- such a panel, composed of experts The Net Worth Guarantee Act, tion’s (SLMA) legislative authority from the collection industry in the Public Law 97-320, October 15. 1982, and its program operations, as well United States, will give the Govern- contains a requirement for the as a more narrow interim study to be ment much needed advice in this Comptroller General to conduct an completed within 6 months. The area.”*

’Cong. Rec., Vol. 128 (Oct 1. 1982), p. S12992. 2Cong. Rec., Vol. 128 (Oct. 1, 1982), p. 513331.

50 GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 Diane E. Grant

Si nce the Sia ff Bulletin stop ped Office and was to assure nondis- appearing in March 1960 and the crimination in personnel matters, by GAO Review was not published until policy and directives of the Presi- the winter of 1966, the following dent, as stated in Executive Order items were taken from the 1963 10925. Also, the regulations of the spring issues of the Watchdog. President’s Committee on Equal Twenty years ago: Employment Opportunity would be adhered to. Joseph Campbell, Comptroller Comptroller General Elmer E. General of the United States, stressed Staats established within GAO the “equal employment opportunity” by Office of Energy and Special Projects issuing, for the guidance of all GAO due to the growing problems emerg- employees, a new Comptroller Gen- ing from shortages of energy re- eral Order that was in accordance sources. The new Office was under with the rules and regulations of the the direction of Assistant Comptroller President’s Committee on Equal General Phillip S. Hughes, formerly Employment Opportunity. director of the GAO Office of Federal The statement of policy, consistent Elections. with law, was based solely on merit James D. Martin, regional manager, and fitness; all supervisory employees Dallas, was honored by the Wash- and other employees authorized to ington Chapter, Federal Government initiate or effect specific personnel Accountants Association, for his actions were directed, within the “outstanding performance evidenced limits of the authority, to take appro- in the work of the special GAO task priate steps to ensure that there force set up to make a comprehen- would be no discrimination because sive study of health facilities con- of race, color, creed, or national struction costs.” Mr. Martin was at origin. It specified that all qualified that time an assistant director in the persons would be afforded equal Manpower and Welfare Division. employment opportunity for employ- ment in the General Accounting See REFLECTIONS, p. 52

GAO Review/Spring 1983 51 REFLECTIONS, Cont. from p.51 housing programs of the Department ciate director, Human Resources of Housing and Urban Development, Division, was designated an assis- effective September 17, 1972. tant director in the General Govern- Edward A. Densmore, deputy Brian P. Crowley, associate direc- ment Division, with responsibility director, HRD, was awarded the tor, senior level, Resources, Com- for the audits of seven independent 1973 William A. Jump Memorial munity and Economic Development regulatory agencies, effective Oc- Award for distinguished service in Division, was designated an assis- tober 29, 1972. public administration. Mr. Densmore tant director in the Resources and Carmen E. Smarrelli, senior group was then an assistant director in the Economic Development Division, director, Procurement, Logistics Resources and Economic Develop- responsible for the audits of the air and Readiness Division, was desig- ment Division. and water pollution control programs, nated an assistant director in the Baltas E. Birkle, deputy director effective October 29, 1972. Logistics and Communications Divi- of the Resources, Community and Seymour Efros, associate general sion, responsible for audits of logis- Economic Development Division, counsel, was designated an assistant tics support services, such as indus- was designated an associate direc- general counsel in the Office of Gen- trial preparedness, Government tor in the Resources and Economic eral Counsel, effective September printing, food services, public affairs, Development Division, responsible 1972. and industrial plant equipment, for audit assignments involving * Robert A. Peterson, senior asso- effective November 26, 1972.

TOPICS, Cont. from p. 13 plications of the data obtained from an opportunity, in the planning content analyses. We confine our phase, to organize the information Validity is an indicator of the ex- comments to the coding process collection so as to minimize prob- tent to which a process measures itself, not to analyses performed on lems during the content analysis what it purports to measure. With re- the data. phase. spect to content analysis, validity In most GAO applications, con- refers to how well the coded infor- tent analysis would be one of Where TO book For mation corresponds to reality. For several tools used to obtain More Imfarmation example, how well does our count of answers to evaluative questions; insurance claims for stolen enter- that is, data produced by a content About Content tainment equipment correspond to analysis would usually be combined Analysis the actual claims in the same sam- with other information and then Babbie, E. R. The Practice of Social ple? (Errors due to sampling are a analyzed by standard techniques. Research, Second Edition. separate matter.) It is difficult to For our purposes, written material is Wadsworth, 1979. Includes a judge the validity of a content analy- divided into two main categories: short, nontechnical introduction sis because some other estimate of messages already available as a to content analysis, with ex- the number of claims needs to ex- result of human transactions and amples. ist-an estimate which can be used messages that GAO elicited directly to gauge the correctness of the from respondents. Already available General Accounting Office. Content coding procedures. A variety of ap,- material includes legal documents, Analysis: A Methodology for proaches is available for determin- program descriptions, policy direc- Structuring and Analyzing Written ing the validity. tives, government reports, legisla- Material. Washington, D.C., 1982. It should be noted, incidentally, tion, transcripts of hearings, grant Methodology Transfer Paper 3 that a measuring process may be applications, etc. The distinguish- from the Institute for Program high on reliability and yet low on ing characteristic of this category is Evaluation. A brief, readable in- validity; that is, there may be great that the only act necessary to ac- troduction to the topic. consistency among the coders (high quire the information we need is to Holsti, 0. R. Content Analysis for reliability), but they may make many ask for it. the Social Sciences and Human- common coding errors (low validity). We obtain the other category of ities. Addison-Wesley, 1969. Good material when GAO seeks informa- coverage of operational details. Applications tion directly from respondents through questionnaires or inter- Krippendorff, K. Content Analysis: An lntroduction to Its Methodol- Whenever a need exists for nu- views. Although some directly ac- ogy. Sage, 1980. More difficult to merical data and written messages quired information might already be read than the others, but useful, from which we might extract in numerical form, other informa- especially for its reliability and such , informaticn, there is an tion, such as answers to open- validity sections. opportunity to use content analysis. ended questions, might usefully be Whether any given opportunity coded by content analysis. Simi- North, R. C., et al. Content Analysis: would be a good application of the larly, taped interviews and tran- A Handbook with Applications for method depends upon several fac- scribed interview notes are can- the Study of International Crisis. tors, some of which are outside the didates for content analysis. The Northwestern University Press, realm of content analysis. No doubt reason for distinguishing this 1963. Includes several variations there have been many ill-advised ap- category of material is that there is on the content analysis theme.

52 GAO Reviem/Spring 1983 LOOKING SOUTH, Cont. from p.20 AND you thought it was only a canal! GAO on the Scene Is DID you know that.. .

For followers of world affairs, it is over 850 species of birds make Panama their home? clear that interest in Latin America and the Caribbean has never been the name Panama is an Indian word meaning “abundance of fish?” greater and is on the increase. When you pick up tomorrow’s paper, you Panama’s Colon Free Zone is the largest free zone in the Western will read about developments in this Hemisphere with $4.2 billion worth of goods passing through annually? region. It may involve a presidential or congressional visit, the Caribbean Panama has over 800 islands? Basin Initiative, the Panama Canal, the 1983 Miss Universe contest will be held in Panama? illegal immigration, or U.S. military assistance. But whatever the issue, Panama has over 130 international banks? rest assured that GAO has staff on the scene and is prepared to provide over 300 species of orchids flourish naturally in Panama? information and knowledgeable insights which can only be gained Rod Carew and Roberto Duran are from Panama? through firsthand experience. The LAB staff enjoy working in a region the longest vessel to transit the Canal was the 973-foot-longSan Juan which is finally beginning to receive Prospector? increased attention, and we also the most expensive transit was by the Queen Elizabeth II, which paid enjoy living in an environment that $89,154? ID staff in Washington and the Euro- pean Branch can only dream about the cheapest transit was by Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal from November to March. in 1926 for $.36?

ROBOTICS, Cont. fromp. 25 accelerate in future years. Voca- Community Conference may ensure tional institutions simply do not worker protection while retaining the Federal Government will be have time to waste resources and local control. involved in all aspects of the social fail to explore critical new programs. Programs to give the structurally problems created by automation. Promoting cooperation. The unemployed useful skills will con- The controversial CETA program Government could also act as a cat- tinue to be important as more un- has raised many questions about alyst in promoting cooperation skilled jobs are eliminated. The Federal participation in training. between industry and educational recently enacted training legislation Debate over the extent of this involve- institutions, as well as among the sponsored by Senators Quayle and ment will continue, but some roles institutions themselves. Such coop- Kennedy emphasizes this approach, filled by the Federal Government in eration could alleviate problems, but at funding levels far below those the past should not be overlooked. such as high equipment costs and of the old CETA program. The ability They include the following: teacher shortages. The Department of private-sector institutions to Providing information. The gov- of Education’s series of Robotics reach out to these people and absorb ernment is in the best position to Roundtables is a step toward foster- the Federal cuts is doubtful. Under collect and analyze work force infor- ing this coordination. CETA, vocational educational insti- mation on a national scale. However, Providing training assistance. tutions sometimes acted as pro- to date little effort has been devoted Federal training funds have under- viders for Prime Sponsors. Private to providing information about the gone massive budgetary cuts during Industry Councils, a recent CETA new technology, and recent budget the past 2 fiscal years. Funds for addition emphasized by the new cuts have impaired the reliability of retraining have been and will con- legislation, should try to improve data bases at the local level. tinue to be relatively small. Yet their coordination with vocational Promoting curriculum develop- allowing the burden to fall on the educators? ment. In the past, the Federal Gov- private sector may not provide ade- ernment has assisted in developing quate coverage. The responsibility Are We Prepared high-risk curricula to alleviate risks for retraining workers when there for Robotics? too great for individual institutions are no jobs for them within the same and prevent unnecessary duplication company, or even the same industry, The mention of robotics evokes of effort. This type of Federal involve- is unclear. However, the social costs emotions ranging from optimism to ment is critical for vocational educa- to the Government of increased social welfare payments and ser- ’National Ccrnmission for Employment ti~n.~Job displacement and techno- Policy, The Federal Role in Vocational Federal logical transformation are already vices argue for involvement-Educaf,on, September 1981, pp. 11-13, occurring at a swift pace and will Programs such as the Downriver elbid., p 67

GAO Review/Spring 1983 53 ROBOTICS,Cont. from p. 53 last for individual workers and could turn the potential for disaster whether the problems programmable into an opportunity for progress. For automation creates will be greater the vocational education system, apprehension according to the per- than they need be. anticipating the technology’s effects ception of benefits received from Failure to prepare for advanced could mean an opportunity to pre- the technology’s introduction. Auto- technologies could lead to disaster, pare a highly skilled work force and mation undoubtedly will cause both for workers and the country’s to prevent the familiar paradox of structural hardship. The real ques- industrial base. Yet early awareness skill shortages in the midst of tions are how long this hardship will of the technology’s implications unemployment.

IMPROVEMENT, Cont. from p. 29 years, Canadian departments have differences in emphasis and style. been quite active in setting up pro- Auditors in Canada are seen more deputy minister. This gives him a gram evaluation functions. Based as an integral part of the manage- significant opportunity to assess on guidance provided by the OCG, ment team. While they are still progress toward meeting action they first established a departmental expected to retain their indepen- plan goals at the individual manager program evaluation policy to ensure dence, greater emphasis has been level. that evaluations are conducted placed on developing a constructive The departmental officials with objectively, and then developed a audit approach, whereby as much whom we met tended to support the departmental program evaluation interest is shown in internal controls OCG views about the importance of plan delineating a set of program to eliminate waste and inefficiency the cooperative relationship and the evaluation components and identi- as in those controls maintained for seed money provided to get projects fying when each component is to be the prevention and detection of started. One department had estab- evaluated. fraud. lished a separate management ser- In theory, program evaluation We learned about two facets vices division to implement its action should fit nicely into the PEMS sys- unique to Canada. The first was the plan and help better organize the tem by providing program managers existence of a separate Audit Ser- department’s operations. feedback to enable them to adjust vices Bureau in the Department of In summary, we were quite favor- and improve their long-range plans in Supplies and Services. This bureau ably impressed by the concepts light of actual results achieved. In has 350 personnel who perform underlying the IMPAC programs, the reality, the progress to date has fallen audits in such areas as federal1 skills and attitudes of OCG person- short of expectations. Mr. Rogers provincial agreements and provide nel responsible for carrying them reported in March 1982 that special audit services to smaller out, and the progress described to departments and agencies. This is us by department officials. We will While progress is substantial, even similar to a core internal audit staff benefit from their experience in impressive, I am unable to report that picks up the overflow and developing guidelines for the original that departments are now carrying handles miscellaneous chores. The IMPAC surveys. Their thinking about out an adequate number of good second was the widespread use of what constitutes a good public man- quality evaluations or that the stud- management audit committees in agement system complements our ies conducted are uniformly and the departments. own concepts and ideas. Finally, fully considered by departmental The audit committees, chaired by their faith in this change agent role management. the deputy minister and composed and the departmental officials’ of senior department managers, receptivity to the hands-onassistance In providing guidance and assis. help plan internal audit activities provides valuable insights about how tance to the departments, OCG and assess managerial actions to achieve change constructively. seemed to be taking a pragmatic taken in response to internal audit Program Evaluatiom approach. The official with whom reports. Through these committees, we met commented on the uneven- the internal auditors have a direct adInterad Aladit ness across departments with which link to top management. In turn, top While visiting the Comptroller program evaluation was being management has a voice in influ- General’s office, we also met with implemented. Part of the problem encing the direction of internal audit officials responsible for overseeing was a shortage of qualified person- activities. program evaluation and internal nel. Rather than prescribe a universal The OCG is encouraging depart- audit activities in the executive set of guidelines, OCG seemed to be ments to include outside members- departments. OCG establishes supporting a concept that whatever either from other departments or the governmentwide policies on both was best in a given department’s private sector-on their audit com- these activities. environment is the way to go. mittees to improve objectivity and With regard to program evaluation, Concerning i nterna I audit, the add external experience to the reso- departments and agencies are OCG publishes governmentwide lution of audit issues. So far, the expected to regularly evaluate the standards akin to GAO’s yellow departments have resisted this efficiency and effectiveness of their book. Canada’s internal auditors innovat ion. programs as an integral part of pro- perform roles similar to those of our Overall, we viewed these audit gram management. In the last 2 inspectors general but with some committees as a promising initiative

54 GAO Review/Spring 1983 IMPROVEMENT, Cont. from p. 54 public sector, they have previously here are some overall impressions: amassed an impressive body of The parliamentary system in that may improve communication private-sector experience. They pro- Canada provides a different, perhaps between auditors and managers in vide specialized skills and tech- better-suited framework for strategic our own government. On the other niques, solve problems peculiar to planning and systematic manage- hand, we had no way of knowing the public sector, and advocate new ment across government. whether internal auditors’ indepen- ideas and methods. Interdiscipli- The Auditor General, as an agent dence was infringed on by such nary teams of consultants can be of Parliament, will largely be looked committees. In addition, the statu- assembled from other Canadian on as an outsider, making the com- tory independence and reporting departments or the private sector prehensive audit approach primarily responsibility to the Congress may working under subcontract. an external force in management preclude the use of such commit- The consultants are well aware of improvement. However, he has tees in our own executive depart- Canadian government policy and developed an approach worth con- ments. Nevertheless, we are seeing procedures as well as underlying sidering, and his staff has worked to greater cooperation between inspec- problems which might affect assess- develop criteria for assessing man- ment of alternative courses of action. tors general through the President’s agement practices. Council on Integrity and Efficiency They claim to express their views in 9 The IMPAC program is impressive and interaction with agency man- unequivocal fashion. To facilitate but hard to emulate in the United agers through joint OMB-sponsored this, their reports are always confi- States. OMB would be a better base meetings with the assistant secre- dential to the client. for it than GAO if it were implemented taries for administration. Perhaps Bureau officials said they took here. Identifying cost savings is instituting departmental manage- pains to avoid competing with important in gaining cooperation ment committees would be a logical private-sector consultants. They do extension of these other recent not undercut their prices. and justifying continued support. At this point, it is hard to tell whether coordination efforts. With such The Bureau was instrumental in IMPAC will be a one-time effort or committees, it would be harder for helping to establish the Office of evolve into a continuous manage internal auditors to be ignored by Comptroller General. They assisted ment improvement program. top management. in putting together the first survey package for the agency assess- Accomplishing our own manage- Bureau of ments. Now they are reaping the ment studies goals now seems Management benefits. The Bureau is busier than more challenging than ever, but tak- Connsulting ever as departments work toward ing the constructive approach advo- implementing their action plans. cated by the Canadian Comptroller Founded in 1946, the Bureau of Several new staff members had General appears to be the most Management Consu I t in g offers a recently been brought on board at promising alternative even if we full spectrum of management con- the time of our visit. cannot emulate the IMPAC program sulting services to Canadian depart- in all its aspects. ments and agencies on a fee-for- Conclusions We will continue to follow devel- service basis. opments in Canada with great inter- Reflecting on all our meetings Although the consultants’ capabil- est in the years ahead. ities and skills are oriented to the and the information we brought back,

WITNESSES, Cont. from p. 41 disclosure will not result in harm to protect the lives of witnesses in the the witness. While this represents a program. Obviously, that protection ployee, and Government agencies major step in the resolution of civil is enhanced by keeping their new seeking to recover unpaid criminal problems, we believed legislative identities and locations a closely fines (Department of Justice) and changes were needed to better bal- guarded secret. On the other hand, taxes (Internal Revenue Service). ance the competing interests the as the Nation’s chief law enforce- Until April 1982, the Justice Depart- Department encounters in adminis- ment agency, the Department has a ment had a blanket policy to not dis- tering the program. basic obligation to uphold the laws close a witness’ identity or location of the land and assist in their enforce- to help an innocent citizen enforce a GAO’s Efforts ment. When a creditor or other inno- court judgment against a witness. In In our report on the administration cent citizen seeks to enforce a court effect, this previous policy precluded of the Witness Security Program, we order against a relocated witness, creditors and other persons from concluded that the resolution of the Department must make a diffici,lt successfully collecting or enforcing civil problems caused by relocated choice between principles: It must lawful debts or judgments. Under its witnesses creates a difficult dilemma choose either to disclose a witness’ new policy, the Justice Department for the Department of Justice. On identity to enforce law or not to dis- will now consider disclosing a wit- one hand, the Department operates close to protect the witness and the ness’ identity if it believes that the a program (believed to be indispen- program’s integrity. witness has adequate resources to sib le in prosecu t i ng high-level c rim i- GAO is continuing its examination satisfy a civil obligation and that the nals) that makes a commitment to of the Witness Security Program for

GAO Review/Spring 1983 55 WITNESSES, Cont. from p. 55 nation of the nature and extent of results. Through its efforts, GAO the Chairman of the House Subcom- criminal activity by relocated wit- hopes to present information and mittee on Courts, Civil Liberties and nesses. Also, we will be making the recommendations that will help the Administration of Justice. This first comprehensive attempt to iden- solve problems in the Witness effort is the first independent exami- tify and quantify program use and Security Program.

?ROGRESS, Cont. from p. 45 suspension of aid to follow if aid is term programs? lost a second time. The bill contain- The unlikelihood of discovering a ing this amendment has been referred establishing minimum GPAs that panacea for every possible aspect to the Senate Committee on Labor of the problem should not preclude the students must meet. Students and Human Resources. would be required to have a “C” attempts to deal with the problem itself. The final answer will no doubt average at the end of each year they In Conclusion receive assistance. Students failing require a number of actions and to achieve this would be placed on The problem of ensuring student would hopefully be provided in part probation for one term, with suspen- academic progress will not be solved by the very parties for which the pro- sion of aid to follow if they still had easily. The answers themselves are grams are designed: the students not attained a “C” average at the likely to present other thorny ques- themselves and the institutions they end of that period. Exceptions tions. How do you deal with grade attend. The rewards are worth the would be granted only when the stu- inflation? What happens when a struggle. Sound academic progress dent could document an unusual school already struggling for survival guidelines will not only ensure hardship affecting his or her grades, is faced with having to set standards scarce resources are used efficiently such as a death in the family. A stu- which may significantly reduce but will also help to promote the dent could become eligible for enrollment? How is progress to be integrity of these programs which assistance again by maintaining a measured at nontraditional schools have provided such a valuable bene- “C” average for two consecutive which do not use a competitive fit to Americans seeking a post- grading periods, with permanent grading system or which offer short- secondary education.

56 GAO Review/Spring 1983 GAO Staff Changes

Baltas E. Birkle Ralph Carlone Mary Hamilton Mr. Birkle has been named deputy Mr. Carlone has been named the Mary Hamilton has been named director for operations in the Re- deputy director for planning and assistant regional manager for oper- sources, Community and Economic reporting in the Resources, Commu- ations in the New York Regional Development Division. Within GAO, nity and Economic Development Office. Ms. Hamilton was formerly he has had widely diverse audit Division. the group director for science and assignments, which included the A graduate of Bloomsburg State technology in the Program Analysis Department of the Interior, Tennessee College in Pennsylvania, Mr. Division. Valley Authority, U.S. Postal Service, Carlone served in the U.S. Marine Ms. Hamilton joined GAO in 1979. NASA, GSA, VA, and HUD. In addi- Corps (1956-60) and joined GAO in Prior to 1979, she managed an energy tion, he served 2 years on the former 1964. His diverse assignments have policy group at the BDM Corpora- Accounting and Auditing Policy included responsibilities for audits tion in McLean, Virginia, and taught Staff and 9 years as deputy director at the Veterans Administration and sociology at St. Mary's University in of the former Resources and Eco- the former Atomic Energy Commis- San Antonio, Texas. nomic Development Division and sion. From 1976 to 1978, he served Ms. Hamilton holds a Ph.D. in the Community and Economic as associate director in the Energy sociology from the University of Development Division. and Minerals Division, responsible Maryland, an M.A. in sociology from Mr. Birkle attended the University for the activities of the Nuclear the University of North Carolina, of Maryland and received his B.S. in Regulatory Commission and for and a B.A. in sociology and psychol- accounting in 1951. He also holds a audit and analysis of Department of ogy from Bethel College, St. Paul, master's degree in economics. Energy research and development Minnesota. Mr. Birkle has attended the Pro- programs. Since 1978, Mr. Carlone gram for Management Development has served as regional manager of at the Harvard Business School. He the Philadelphia office. has received the GAO Career Devel- opment Award, the Distinguished Service Award, and the CED Director's Award. Mr. Birkle is a CPA (Maryland) and a member of the American Insti- tute of CPAs and the District of Columbia institute of CPAs.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 57 GAO Staff Changes

Division Name To Accounting and Financial Kenneth George ACTION Management Division Christine E. Palmer American Speech-Language Association

Personnel Linda Boyer Dept. of the Interior

Program Analysis Division Marc Bickoff Government Printing Office Henry Handy Private industry Thomas Woodward Congressional Research Service

Denver Lewis DeLeon Dept. of the Army Peter Fernandez Dept. of the Interior Don Gilman Dept. of the Interior Kathy Pareja Colorado Dept. of Social Services Robert Smith Dept. of the Interior Ralph Spencer Dept. of the Interior Phil Sykora Dept. of the Interior

San Francisco Judy Ashley State of Washington Dona Sosnowski Naval Postgraduate School

Seattle Cynthia Buckley Singing career

Washington Jeffrey Glick Federal Emergency Management Agency Donald Henry Veterans Administration Linda Saunders Not specified Patricia Serone Honeywell, Inc.

RETIREMENTS Marian Becker GAO Evaluator Detroit Regional Office Phyllis Walker Fersonnel Clerk Personnel

5s GAO Re-iew/Spring 1983 New Staff Members

The following new staff members reported for work during the period September 6, 1982,and October 31, 1982.

Office of Administrative and Wheeler, Katherine M. Dept. of the Army Publishing Services

Office of the General Counsel Ashen, David A. Hastings College of Law Chalpin, Mark G. University of California Curcio, Mary G. St. John’s University Gaines, Joy E. University of Pennsylvania Hynous, Anne M. Wayne State University Klazkin, Julian Catholic University Leger, Charles P. Antioch School of Law Maguire, Frank Loyola Law School Moorhouse, Richard L. Suffolk University Nagata, Joyce F. University of San Diego Smith, Stephen G. Villanova University

Accoumting and Financial Mycka, Arleen M. MITRE Cow. Management Division

Human Resources Division Smith, Betty J Securities & Exchange Commission Vila, Maria L. Bechtel International Construction Corp.

REGIONAL OFFICES

Denver Brenner, Sherry M. Polly Chandler Bookstore Gvoth, Paul A. University of Denver Hixson, Sue E. University of Cincinnati

Seattle Robinson, Beverly Robinson n’ewspaper

GAOReview/Spring 1983 Professional Activities

Office of the logue for the Future,” sponsored by Winston-Salem, NC, Oct. 25. Comptroller General the Montgomery County Economic Advisory Council at the Linden Hill W. A. Broadus, Jr., group director: Hotel, Bethesda, MD, Oct. 25. Comptroller General Charles A. Conducted briefings, workshops, Bowsher addressed the following etc., on Government Audit Stan- groups: Accounting and dards and governmental auditing Financial Management at the Colorado Society of CPAs, President’s Council on Integrity 1982 Governmental Conference, and Efficiency, Washington, Aug. 3. Division Denver, Sept. 10; Defense Audit Service, Washington, Sept. 21; American Institute of Certified George L. Egan, Jr., associate Association of University and Public Accountants Annual Meet- director: College Auditors, Annual Confer- ing, Portland, OR, Oct. 4. ence, Pocono Manor, PA, Sept. 28; Participated in the President’s GAO Kansas City Regional Office, Canadian ComprehensiveAuditing Kansas City, MO, Oct. 5-6; AlCPAl Foundation, Montreal, Oct. 5. Council on Integrity and Efficiency Conference at the Office of Man- AGA National Governmental Training Program, KansasCity, MO, Joint Meeting of the Association agement and Budget, Washington, Sept. 14. Oct. 20-21; AACSB Accounting of Government Accountants, Accreditation Visit to Indiana Central Germany Chapter, and State University, Terre Haute, the American Society of Military Together with Joseph D. Comtois, Oct. 24-27 (served as cochairman); Comptrollers, Frankfurt, Heidel- group director, spoke on “What’s and Indiana State Examiner’s berg, Rhineland-Pfalz Chapters, Happening in Washington,” before Staff Meeting, Indianapolis, Oct. 27. Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 28. the Mountain and Plains Intergov- Was appointed to serve on the ernmental Audit Forum, Cheyenne, AGA’s Financial Management Office of the WY, Oct. 22. Enhancement Board and to chair General Counsel the relations with AICPA and Spoke on “Waste, Fraud, and NASBA Committee and to serve Seymour Efros, associate general Abuse,” before the Office of Per- on the AACSB Special Task Force cou nse I: sonnel Management’s Regional on Accounting Accreditation Management Conference, Atlanta, Standards. Spoke to the GSA Regional Coun- Oct. 26. sel’s Conference on significant Joseph J. Donlon, senior group GAO procurement decisions on Spoke on ‘Career Opportunities director, served as panel moderator major procurement issues cur- with the Federal Government,” for a seminar sponsored by the Joint rently confronting Federal agen- before the American University’s Financial Management Improvement cies, Atlanta, Sept. 29. Career Seminar on Accounting Program and the Capital Region of and Tax, Washington, Oct. 29. the Association of Government Jerold D. Cohen, senior attorney, Accountants on the Prompt Payment participated in a panel discussion Act, Arlington, VA, Sept. 13. Brian L. Usilaner, associate direc- on architect-engineer contracts at tor, spoke on “Cutback Management” the American Society of Civil Engi- Theodore F. Gonter, group director, neers Convention, New Orleans, at the Office of Personnel Manage- chaired a session on “OM6 Circu- OCt. 27-29. ment’s Management Conference, lar A-I23 and EDP Management” at Atlanta, Oct. 26. the 18th annual meeting of the Com- Richard Springer, senior attorney, puter Performance Evaluation Users participated in a seminar on “Man- Ronald J. Points, associate director: Group, Washington, Oct. 28. aging an International Oil Supply Crisis,” sponsored by the American James R. Watts, group director, Spoke on internal controls before spoke on “Computer-Related Fraud” Bar Association, Annapolis, MD, the Twelfth International Congress Oct. 22-23. before the Department of Agricul- of Accountants, Mexico City, ture’s Fourth Annual ADP Security Personnel Oct. 12. Officers Seminar, Washington, Sept. 22. Donnie L. Dick, group manager of Spoke on Single Governmental Personnel’s Operations Group, par- Audit Concepts before the North Carl R. Palmer, group director: ticipated in a symposium on “Careers Carolina State CPA Meeting, in Transition: A PubliclPrivate Dia- Chaired a panel session on “De- fense Computer and Communica-

60 GAO Review/Spting 1983 Professional Activities

tions Acquisitions” at the Federal Government Accountants on on “Medicare Home Health Program Computer Conference, Washing- “Internal Control and the Financial on Need, Use, and Cost,” before the ton, Sept. 29. Integrity Act,” Houston, TX, Oct. 26. Third Annual Conference on Aging and the Black Aged, at Morgan State Chaired a panel on “Financial General Governmemt University, Baltimore, Oct. 13. Management” at the Computer Division Perform an ce Eva Iu at ion Users Institute for Program Group annual meeting and spoke William J. Anderson, director, Evaluation in the keynote session on “Chal- addressed the Brookings Institution’s lenges for the Profession in the Advanced Study Program Conference Eleanor Chelimsky, director: Eighties,” Washington, Oct. 25-26. for Business Executives on Federal Received the Evaluation Research Government Operations, Washington, Darrell Heim, ADP assignment Society’s Award for Evaluation in Sept. 27. manager: Government, at the ERS annual meeting, Baltimore, Oct. 28. Sebastian Correira, group director, Together with Lee Conyers, man- discussed GAO’s report “Early Garry L. McDaniels, deputy direc- agement analyst, spoke on “Audit- Observations on Block Grant Imple- ing in a Computer Environment,” tor, coauthored a chapter with Mary mentation” (GAOIGGD-82-79,Aug. 24, Kennedy entitled “Informing Policy at the U.S. Army Logistic Manage- 1982) before the Lutheran Resources ment Center, Ft. Lee, VA, Sept. 20. Makers About Programs for Handi- Commission, Washington, Nov. 27. capped Children” in Learning From Together with Roger McDonald, Richard B. Groskin, social science Experience: Evaluating Early Child- senior ADP auditor, discussed analyst: hood Demonstration Programs, pub- “Computers, Financial Audits, lished by the National Academy of and Third Party Reviews,” at a Was appointed cochairperson of Science, 1982. training program sponsored by the Policy Issues Committee of Wallace M. Cohen, group director: the Pennsylvania State Auditor the American Society for Public General, Harrisburg, PA, Oct. 5. Administration, Section on Crim- Chaired a session on “Evaluation i na I J us t ice Adm in ist rat ion. and Accountability Issues’’ at the Lee Conyers, management ana- national meeting of the Operations lyst, together with Ed Wingfield, Authored a resolution adopted by Research Society of America and ADP auditor, discussed “Auditing in the National Council of ASPA in the Institute of Management . a Computer Environment,” at the July 1982 calling upon the Presi- Science, San Diego, in October. U.S.Army Audit Agency’s East Cen- dent of the United States to estab- He was also a panelist in another tral Region Staff Conference, Hamp- lish a National Commission on session dealing with “Utilization ton, VA, Oct. 27. Crime Control and Administration of Evaluation Information by Fed- of Justice Policy. eral Managers.” Joint Financial Was appointed to a second term Chaired the opening meeting of Management on the Executive ‘Committee on Improvement the Federal Agency Evaluation National Policv for Justice Admin- Director’s Forum at the Veterans Program istration of the American Society Administration, Oct. 5. of Criminology for 1982-83. Susumu Uyeda, executive director: Human Resources Together with Jeremiah Donoghue, site coordinator for the Albany Gave a presentation on JFMIP to Division regional suboffice, briefed mern- USDA’s Third Annual Financial John W. Lainhart, group director: bers of the National Council of Council Conference, Washington, State Legislators, Executive Com- Oct. 12. Spoke at the Auditor General of mittee on Program Evaluation, Albany, NY, Oct. 14-15. Spoke on “Internal Control and Pennsylvania’s EDP Auditor the Financial Integrity Act” at the Training Program on “Evaluating Veterans Administration’s National Internal Controls in Computer- Ray Rist, deputy associate director, Finance Officers meeting, Austin, Based Systems,” Harrisburg, VA, has had released by Sage Publica- TX, Oct. 26. Sept. 14. tions his most recent book, Policy Studies Review Annual. This book Gave a talk to the Austin Chapter Spoke at the Keystone Capital has brought together 40 of the most of the Association of Government Area Chapter, EDP Auditors Asso- important policy studies articles Accountants on “Internal Control ciation meeting on “GAO’s Ap- published between late 1980 and and the. Financial Integrity Act,” proach to Evaluating Internal early 1982. Austin, TX, Oct. 26. Controls in Cornputer-Based Sys- tems,” Lancaster, PA, Sept. 14. Terry Hedrick, evaluator, was Gave a presentation to the Houston named the recipient of the Presi- Chapter of the Association of Samuel Deramo, evaluator, spoke dent’s Prize at the 1982 annual

GAO Review/Spring 1983 61 Professional Activities

meeting of the Evaluation Research Chicago, Oct. 5. bestowed by the National Boy Scouts Society in Baltimore, Oct. 28-30, of America: induction into the Order 1982. Ms. Hedrick received the Stewart 0. Seman, evaluator: of the Arrow, Camp Frank Rand, NM, award for execution of a GAO report In his role as regional vice president Sept. 10-12. entitled, “CETA Programs for Disad- of the north central region of the vantaged Adults-What Do We Association of Government Ac- Robert W. Hanlon, regional Know About Their Enrollees, Ser- countants (AGA) spoke on “Devel- manager: vices, and Effectiveness?” oping Professional Competence” Participated with Shirley C. Ward, before AGA’s Springfield, Illinois Program Analysis assistant regional manager, and chapter, Oct. 20. Floyd A. Gonzales, evaluator, in Division Was appointed to the Chicago the Hispanic Professional Career Federal Executive Board’s His- Opportunities Conference spon- Osmund T. Fundingsland, asso- panic Employment Program man- sored by the League of United ciate director, served as resource ager’s awards subcommittee. Latin American Citizens and the person for the OPMWashington Digital Equipment Corporation. Management Institute Program on Cincinnati Also participating were Frank Management of Scientific and Engi- Campos, supervisory evaluator neering Organizations and con- Terry Davis, Bruce Fairbairn, (San Francisco) and Richard C. ducted sessions on “National Russell Keeler, Diana Brettl, evalua- Erbal, (Personnel), Denver, Oct. 30. Science and Technology Policies, tors, Cincinnati; and Bob Wychulis Planning, and Organization” and and Jeff Chaney, HRD, discussed Spoke on “Practice, Practice, “Management of R&D Programs GAO’s role in auditing the Social Practice” before the charter meet- and Projects,” Sept. 22. Security Disability Insurance Pro- gram and participated in a panel dis- ing of the Hilltoppers Toastmis- tresses, Denver, Sept. 8. Mary Hamilton, group director, cussion before the Indiana Chapter addressed the 50th anaiversary of the National Association of Dis- meeting of the Accreditation Board ability Examiners, Indianapolis, Together with James A. Reardon, for Engineering and Technology on Oct. 27. senior evaluator, attended the “Federal Perspectives on Engineer- semiannual meeting of the Moun- ing Education,” Colorado Springs, Bob Kissel, evaluator, attended tains and Plains Intergovernmental Oct. 27. the 16th annual meeting of the Fed- Audit Forum, Cheyenne, WY, eral Interagency Advisory Committee Oct. 21 -22. Natwar M. Gandhi, supervisory on Water Data, Virginia Beach, VA, evaluator, addressed the fourth OCt. 19-20. James A. Reardon, senior evalu- annual University of Hartford Insti- ator, spoke on “lrnplementing the Jim Meissner, assistant regional tute on Insurance Taxation on “Is Single Audit” before the Federal There Life After Stopgap? The GAO manager: Regional Council, Region VIII, Perspective on Revision of the Life Spoke on “Fraud, Waste, and Denver, Sept. 21. Insurance Company Income Tax Act Abuse in Government Programs” of 1959,” Oct. 5. before the Indianapolis AGA Norman G. Austen, evaluator, Chapter’s program on “Internal presented a symposium on “Auditing Robert Kershaw, evaluator, spoke Controls in Government Activities,” Computer-Based Systems” to repre- on “The Use of Evaluability Assess- Oct. 20. sentatives of the National Bureau of ment Principles To Support Con- Standards, the Department of Com- gressional Budget and Oversight Spoke before the College of Mount merce, other Government agencies, Reforms,” at the ERSlENET Evalua- St. Joseph’s professional devel- and various commercial ADP vendors, tion ’82 meeting, Baltimore, Oct. 29. opment class on “Careers in the Gaithersburg, MD. Sepi. 29. Government-An Emohasis on GAO,” Cincinnati, 0%’28. Charles Vehorn, economist, dis- Kansas City cussed “Enterprise Pricing-User Detroit Fees and Charges” at the region IV Gary Billen, professional develop- conference of the American Society Walter C. Herrmann, Jr., regional ment coordinator, spoke to the for Public Administration,” Pitts- manager, spoke before the Associa- cooperative education students at burgh, Oct. 8. tion of Government Accountants, Rockhurst College on the benefits Lansing Chapter. His speech, entitled of obtaining work experience in a Regional Offices “The AGA: Where Are We Going?” co-op program and opportunities in was presented to the chapter in GAO, Oct. 12. Chicago Lansing, MI, Sept. 23. James P. Clark, evaluator, partici- D~~~~~ David A. Hanna, regional manager, pated in a panel discussion on discussed personnel system and “Employment of the Handicapped” Emmanuel Olona, evaluator, organization changes with the per- before the Federal Executive Board, received one of the greatest honors sonnel administration class at the

62 GAO Review/Spring 1983 Professional Activities

University of Kansas, Lawrence, ing for Fraud-A Resource Guide,” Thomas E. Birmingham, evaluator: Oct. 28. a comprehensive resource docu- ment for use by audit managers Was appointed as awards chair- Los Angeles and field auditors on the subject person for 1982-83 by the Seattle of fraud and abuse, October. Chapter, Association of Govern- Victor Ell, assistant regional ment Accountants, Sept. 15. manager, attended the Executive Charles D. Mosher, audit manager: Development Program at the Univer- Served as facilitator for a workshop sity of California at Berkeley, Aug. 2-6. As president of the Washington on “Theory Z Management” at the section (chapter) of the American Chapter’s annual Symposium on San Francisco Water Resources Association, led Financial Management, Seattle, a leadership meeting of State sec- OCt. 28-29. Charlie Vincent, supervisory tion presidents at the 18th national evaluator, talked to Navy meteorol- association conference, San W. Floyd Nichols, senior evaluator, ogists at Alameda Naval Air Station Francisco, Oct. 10. completed a 2-year term as treasurer about the role of GAO, Sept. 15. and member of the board of trustees Keith C. Martensen, senior evalu- of the Seattle PhilharmonicOrchestra. Art Davis, evaluator, taught an ator: advanced cardiac life support class for medical personnel of the city Was appointed by the Director, Washington and county of San Francisco on Oct. Indian Health Service, Depart- 23. ment of Health and Human Ser- Eric Marts, evaluator, together vices, to the Director’s Task Force with Patricia Cole, evaluator, partici- Seattle on Contract Health Services, pated in the U.S. Department of Edu- Oct. 20. cation’s Office of Vocational and Donald A. Praast, senior evaluator: Adult Education’s Robotics Round Served as a member of the Direc- Table Seminar, Washington, Aug. 19. Spoke on “The Pacific Northwest tor’s Task Force at meetings of Intergovernmental Audit Forum’s the Claims Processing Subcom- Eileen Larence, evaluator: Program for Dealing with Sub- mittee, Billings, MT, Oct. 27-28, standard CPA Audit Work” at a and Steering Committee, Wash- Is president-elect of the Northern conference of the Midwest Inter- ington, Nov. 2. Virginia Chapter of the American governmental Audit Forum, Lan- Society for Public Administration sing, MI, Oct. 6. Walter R. Eichner, evaluator, spoke (ASPA). on “Fraud Auditing” at the Seattle Under the aegis of the Pacific Chapter, Association of Government Was appointed to serve on the Northwest Intergovernmental Accountants’ annual Symposium on National Membership and Chapter Audit Forum, coauthored “Audit- Financial Management, Oct. 28. Deve Iop ment Cornm i t tee of AS PA.

GAO Review/Spring 1983 Annual Awards for Articles Published in The GAO Review Cash awards are presented each year for the best articles written by GAO staff members and published originally in The GAO Review. The awards are presented during the GAO Awards Program held annually in October in Washington. One award of $500 is available to contributing staff 35 years of age or younger at the date of publication, and another is available to staff over 35 years of age at that date. Staff through grade GS-15 at the time they submit the article are eligible for these awards. The awards are based on recommendations of a panel of judges designated by the Editor. The judges will evaluate articles from the stand- point of their overall excellence, with particular concern for originality of concept and ideas, degree of interest to readers, quality of written expression, evidence of individual effort expended, and relevance to “GAO’s mission.”

Statement of Editorial Policy This publication is prepared primarily for use by the staff of the General Accounting Office (GAO) and outside readers interested in GAO’s work. Except where otherwise indicated, the articles and other submissions generally express the views of the authors and not an official position of the General Accounting Office. The GAO Review’s mission is threefold. First, it highlights GAO’s work from the perspectives of subject area and methodology. (The Review usually publishes articles on subjects generated from GAO audit work which are in- herently interesting or controversial. It also may select articles related to in- novative audit techniques.) Second and equally important, the Review pro- vides GAO staff with a creative outlet for professional enhancement. Third, it acts as historian for significant audit trends, GAO events, and staff activities. Potential authors and interested readers should refer to GAO Order 1551.1 for details on Review policies, procedures, and formats.

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