Tag Archives: Comptroller General

Getting Closure on Our Recommendations

Last year, we blogged about why agencies implement GAO’s recommendations. Looking at our annual Performance and Accountability Report, you can see that we’ve averaged 1,800 recommendations a year with an average 80% implementation rate between fiscal years 2010-2015. This adds … Continue reading

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The Short Tenure of the Second Watchdog in Chief, Fred H. Brown

We’ve already introduced you to the first U.S. Comptroller General, John R. McCarl. While McCarl set the course for GAO, his successor didn’t have much time to fill those substantial shoes. Today’s WatchBlog shares the short tenure (1939–1940) of the … Continue reading

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GAO’s High Risk List

As an agency, we focus on improving the operations of a large, complex federal government that is responsible for trillions of dollars in spending and revenue collection. In 1990, we started a program to report on government operations that we … Continue reading

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The First Watchdog in Chief, John R. McCarl

GAO is headed by the U.S. Comptroller General (CG), and while most school children learn the names of past presidents, here at GAO, we recall the tenures of past CGs. Today’s WatchBlog looks back to our first Comptroller General, John … Continue reading

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GAO Again Named Among Best Places to Work in the Federal Government

The Partnership for Public Service today announced that GAO has again placed highly in its 2014 roster of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, rising to 2nd place among mid-size agencies.  We ranked 3rd in that category … Continue reading

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GAO Receives ‘Clean Opinion’ from International Peer Review

GAO has received a “clean opinion”—the best review possible—from an independent international peer review team that closely examined the agency’s quality assurance system. This year’s review cited GAO’s institutional structures and organizational culture for clearly prioritizing quality and independence, values that … Continue reading

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Celebrating GAO’s 93 Years with Some Glimpses into History

Here at GAO, we strive for accountability, integrity, and reliability in the work we do, but the way we do it evolves with time. As the month of July marks GAO’s 93rd anniversary, we thought we would share a few … Continue reading

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Using DATA to Shine the Light on Federal Spending

Understanding how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars is a daunting task. In fiscal year 2013 alone, the federal government spent $3.5 trillion. In May, Congress unanimously passed and the President signed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA), which … Continue reading

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Where Do GAO Reports Come From?

As an independent nonpartisan agency that reports to Congress, our work comes from 3 main sources: Congressional Requests. Congressional committees, subcommittees, or members of Congress can request that we look into a particular subject. In conjunction with members of Congress, … Continue reading

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An Introduction to GAO’s High Risk List

As an agency, we focus on improving the operations of a large, complex federal government that is responsible for trillions of dollars. In 1990, we started a program to report on government operations that we identified as “high risk” due … Continue reading

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