NCJ Number
69811
Journal
Federal Accountant Volume: 28 Dated: (June 1969) Pages: 4-21
Date Published
1969
Length
18 pages
Annotation
An examination of issues involved in auditing Federal grant Programs to local and State governments establishes a model of cooperation between State auditing agencies and the General Accounting Office (GA).
Abstract
In 1969, over $20.2 billion were allocated for grant expenditures by several Federal agencies. The GAO audit objective is to find out whether the granted funds are used for the purposes intended, are serving those purposes effectively, and are not being wasted. In pursuit of this objective and others which more specifically deal with procedures, legislative concurrence, recipient capabilities and other issues, the GAO inquires into the nature and quality of existing management review activities such as regular managerial checks of recipient performance and recipient audits by the donor Federal agency, by its own internal auditors, or by independent public accountants. Particular attention is paid to internal auditing to discover whether it is serving the management effectively. A major problem in audit management is providing audit coverage without duplication by other auditing agencies. In attempting to deal with this issue, some programs institute cooperative auditing efforts at State and local levels focusing on cross-servicing arrangements, divide the audit effort into financial and compliance areas, or accept State audits. GAO feels that acceptance of State audits would impose too large a personnel and budget burden on the agency and would impair its objectivity. However, State audit organizations can and should play a larger role in the overall management of the programs financed through grants-in-aid from the Federal Government.