The GAO Review, Winter 1979

he ___ :______ REVIEW The ____ .'GAO 1979 ___REVIEW Contents Volume 14 • Issue 1 • From Our Briefease GAO and the Written \Vord Recognition of Audit in Government Twenty Hidden Bureaucratic Meanings Continuing Training of Auditors ASSisting Congressional Staff We Never Thought You Would Ask Us ... :1 The Detroit Region 15 The War on Selenee Scott L. Montgomery ,18 Helping U!Ii FInd Our Way Janice Kosko 20 Annual GAO Honor Award!li Ceremony 22 The Prlvaey Aet and the Freedom of Information Aet: Where Doe!li GAO Fit? Theodore Roman, Jr. 25 Fraud Deteetion: What (!Ii The Audltor'!Ii Role? James T. Campbell 2S Auditing Senate Fluanelal DI!lielo!liure Statement!li Pasquale L. Esposito 32 Program Evaluation and Federal Program!li John Scanlon and John Waller ,36 30 Year§ of dFMIP i For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20401 - Price $1.50 (single copy). Subscription Price-:, $6 per year; $1.50 additional for foreign mailing. Contents 38 GAO's Aetlon OfBee for FIghting Paperwork Christopher T. Smith 41 Risk and Computer ReUabmty FranciS Langlinais and James Musial 45 No Roof On Housing Costs Ron Wood 47 Auditing in Booties and Bonnets AI Stapleton and Gill Fitzhugh 49 Writing for Satisfaetion and Reeognltlon Kay H. Bailey 51 Assignment: Simplify the Taxpayer's Chore Christopher R. Abraham, Gerald P. Barnes, and Amos Romanoff 54 The Personal Toueh-An Effeetive Way to Obtain Questionnaire Responses Robert Piscopink and Donald Weisheit 56 Legislative Developments 60 ReDeetions 62 GAO Staff Changes 66 New Staff Members 68 Professional Aetivities 75 Bookmark Dragons at the Gate 76 Reporting on GAO Alumni H FroID Our Brlefease GAO and the Written executive branch too often adopt a "we members of the armed forces Word they" attitude toward the audit com bureaucracy. In our belief that large or ~unity. But, when the person taking the ganizations tend to share similar traits, By now, everybody is aware of how tl me to boost Government auditing is the we publish the list intact: conscious GAO has become about its President of the United States, we are own publications. Audit reports, the an hopeful that the sentiment will becarried Concur generally-I haven't read the nual report, and-yes-the GA a Review throughout the organizations of document and don't want to be bound are scrutinized to assure that the government. to anything I might say. language is straightforward and that the In October, the President signed the In conference-I don't know where he is. form.at is neat. But what about the per Inspector General Act of 1978 into law~ Passed to higher authority-Pigeon ception of GAO that the public receives enacting the legislation known as H.R: holed in a much more sumptuous from the publications of others? 8588 into Public Law 95-452. The cere office. We were pleased to learn that the two mony at the White House to mark the Appropriate action-Do you know what vol~me study of the history and organi signing was attended by leaders from to do with it? We don't. zation of our institution by the National the executive and the legislative Giving him the picture-A long, con Academy of Public Administration is at branches of Government and was fUSing, and inaccurate statement to a publication stage. According to author sparked by some enthusiastic newcomer. Frederick C. Mosher, Westview Press of comments about auditing. Under active consideration-We have Boulder, Colorado, the publisher of the The President, in hisformal statement never heard of it. However, we'll try to books, expects to be ready to distribute noted that the administration will main~ find it in the files. them in early spring. In addition we tain . a long-term "commitment to im Has received careful consideration-A increasingly find that other book; are prove economy, efficiency, effective period of inactivity covering a time lag. devoti ng serious attention to the study of ness, and integrity in the administration Have you any comments-Give me GAO. of Federal programs." He stated that he some idea what it's all about. Re~ently received by us is a biography would continue to make a "concerted The project is in the air-I am com of Enc L. Kohler (Eric Louis Kohler: effort to root outfraud, abuse, and waste pletely ignorant of the subject. Accounting's Man of Principles, Reston in agency programs." You will remember-You have forgot P~~lishing Company, 1979), edited by In .remarks delivered at theceremooy, ten, or never knew, nor do I. William Cooper and Yuji Ijiri, that President Carter paid tribute to the Transmitted to you-You hold the bag features a substantial amount of GAO leaders of Congress who authored and awhile. I'm tired of it. history. Besides documenting Kohler's pushed the legislation through a unani Itisrecommended-Wedon'tthinkitwill long-time association with GAO the m?~s vote in both Houses. Following the work, but you go ahead and stick your book includes three separate chapters onglnal sponsor of the bill in Congress, neck out and try it. on the topics of: GAO's Corporation Representative Fountain of North For compliance-Sure it's silly, but you Audits Division and its impact; the turn Carolina, Mr. Carter indicated to the gotta do it anyhow. around at GAO under post-World War" ~udience that "the standard for inspec For necessary action-We don't know Comptroller General Lindsay Warren; tion and auditing (by the 12 Inspectors what they want, so you do it. and the development of audit standards General) will be worked out by the For immediate action-We have stalled at GAO. Authors of these essays include General Accounting Office, working it long enough, nowyoudosomething former high-ranking GAO staff closely with the Office of Management about it. members Karney Brasfield and Walt and Budget." For signature-I thought it up, but you Frese as well as long-time GAO con Only time will indicate if the sign it and take the rap. sultants Robert Mautz and Joseph Pois. expectations of the President will be Expedite-To add commotion to con Interested readers will have to wait achieved by the responsible parties in fusion. until a future issue of this magazine to the executive branch. As we pledge our Higher headquarters-A semi-organ read a full-length review of the book. But cooperation, we can only echo the ized mass of partially controlled con one point is clear: the public receives in sentiment which concludes each White fusion. for.m.ation about, and develops its House press conference: "Thank you, Inspector-A "mad dreamer" with a opInion of, the GAO from a wide variety Mr. President." nasty mind .. of sources. We only wish'that each ref It is estimated"':'" This is my guess. Now erence were as positive and as refresh you guess. ing as the volume on Kohler. Twenty Bidden Bureau... erade Meanings Continuing TraIning or Auditors Reeognldon or Audit In It's not often that an envelope arrives Gove....... ent to our attention that causes the entire . Of course, everybody favors con office to laugh aloud. But it did happen It always comes as a pleasant surprise tinuing education and profeSSional de recently, when one headquarter alum velopment activities for government when someone in the executive branch nus-who was recently aSSigned to a of our Government recognizes the im auditors. But until recently, we were un p~sitio~. where he must deal extensively sure of exactly how deeply the sentiment portance of auditing in governmental With military personnel-sent us his key Improvement, since the personnel of the was held and in howmanydifferentways for unraveling the jargon used by certain it was shown. GAO Review/Winter 1979 1 From Our Briefcase The need to improve audit capability look forward to the arrival of Staff, a the transmittal letter and there are as in developing nations was made clearto journal published by the House Select signment codes on the last page of the us in a recent letter by Comptroller Committee on Congressional report. Everyone "needs" different General Staats to the supreme audit in Operations as a medium of communica numbers for different reasons, all of stitutions of 109 developing nations. It tions on Capitol Hill. which seem to be valid. Placing them all seems that the Comptroller General, In the last3 of its 17 issues, Staff began on one page would betoo cumbersome. along with his fellow governing board a new feature which appealed to us very The most recent proposal for inclusion members of the International Organiza much. Under the somewhat deceptive was issue area codes. tion of Supreme Audit Institutions heading of "Official Business," the What do they call "auditors" at agen (lNTOSAI) and with several foundations journal published the title and a brief de cies which have recently been the and international bodies, has advocated scription of the most recent and most subject of a headline-grabbing GAO re increased opportunities for govern relevant of the reports issued by the four port? Auditors are the people called in, ment auditors to learn the most current congressional support agencies. While after the battle has been waged, to shoot state of the artforsometime. Until now, we were always interested in what the the wounded. however, very little has been done in this Office ofTechnology Assessment, Con Where do the 28 members of the area. Based on the Comptroller gressional Budget Office, and Con Comptroller General's Consultant Panel General's invitation, we can expect five gressional Research Service had to of come from? Literally, they come from all or six auditors from other countries to fer each time, we have to admit that our overthe map.

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