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General Accounting Office (GAO)


Self Description

January 2002: "The General Accounting Office is the investigative arm of Congress. GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its Constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use of public funds, evaluates federal programs and activities, and provides analyses, options, recommendations, and other assistance to help the Congress make effective oversight, policy, and funding decisions. In this context, GAO works to continuously improve the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the federal government through financial audits, program reviews and evaluations, analyses, legal opinions, investigations, and other services. GAO's activities are designed to ensure the executive branch's accountability to the Congress under the Constitution and the government's accountability to the American people. GAO is dedicated to good government through its commitment to the core values of a

Third-Party Descriptions

April 2008: 'The audit is the culmination of a series of GAO reports over the past decade that have uncovered improper use of government-issued purchase cards at agencies, including the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Government employees spent nearly $20 billion last year using "SmartPay" cards and related convenience checks, for items ranging from pencils to computers to utility trucks.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802718.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Status/Name Change from Government Accountability Office (GAO) Organization Jul 31, 2004
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) US Federal Government: Congress (Legislative Branch) Organization Apr 10, 2004
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Charles A. Bowsher Person Aug 29, 2006
Organization Executive (past or present) John Brummet Person Mar 29, 2010
Advised by (past or present) C. Eugene Steuerle Person Dec 27, 2005
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) David M. Walker CPA Person

Articles and Resources

33 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 13]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Apr 12, 2011 The Real Housewives of Wall Street

QUOTE: What they don't know is that there is another budget of roughly equal heft, traditionally maintained in complete secrecy... It is as though someone sat down and made a list of every individual on earth who actually did not need emergency financial assistance from the United States government, and then handed them the keys to the public treasure.

 Rolling Stone
Sep 27, 2009 As Subprime Lending Crisis Unfolded, Watchdog Fed Didn't Bother Barking (Banking on the Fed)

QUOTE: Under a policy quietly formalized in 1998, the Fed refused to police lenders' compliance with federal laws protecting borrowers, despite repeated urging by consumer advocates across the country and even by other government agencies.

 Washington Post
Apr 09, 2008 Federal Credit Cards Misused: GAO Cites Charging Of Frivolous Items

QUOTE: Federal employees used government credit cards to pay for lingerie, gambling, iPods, Internet dating services, and a $13,000 steak-and-liquor dinner, according to a new audit from the Government Accountability Office, which found widespread abuses in a purchasing program meant to improve bureaucratic efficiency.

 Washington Post
Oct 20, 2005 Defining Small

QUOTE: ...because of a loophole in federal regulations, a company can be counted as one if it was once small even if it is not now, raising questions about the statistics the government has been citing to defend itself from charges that it has favored big companies in the massive Hurricane Katrina cleanup.

 Washington Post
Jul 29, 2005 Security Costs Slow Iraq Reconstruction: Contract Excesses Also Hamper Progress

QUOTE: Efforts to rebuild water, electricity and health networks in Iraq are being shortchanged by higher-than-expected costs to provide security and by generous financial awards to contractors...the reports seem to run contrary to the Bush administration's upbeat assessment that reconstruction efforts are moving vigorously ahead and that the insurgency is dying down.

 Washington Post
Jul 19, 2005 Corn Dog: The ethanol subsidy is worse than you can imagine

QUOTE: But the ethanol boosters are ignoring some unpleasant facts: Ethanol won't significantly reduce our oil imports... most important (and most astonishing), it may take more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than it actually contains.

 Slate
Jan 31, 2005 Law Cautions Against Outside PR Spending -- Sort Of: Rarely Applied Provision Has Been Interpreted in a Way That Condones Many Agency Public Relations Efforts

QUOTE: The outcry over the Education Department contract -- coming on the heels of the CMS flap and a similar violation involving prepackaged news reports at the Office of National Drug Control Policy -- has stoked interest in Congress for reviewing all federal agencies' PR efforts.

 Washington Post
Jul 16, 2004 Treasury Dept. Picks KPMG as Auditor: Firm's Tax Shelters Under Investigation

QUOTE: The Treasury Department has tapped KPMG LLP as the first private firm to audit the agency's consolidated financial statements, even as the Treasury and Justice departments probe the accounting giant's marketing of potentially abusive tax shelters.

 Washington Post
Jul 01, 2004 Farm Subsidy Rules Called Too Vague: Money Going to Undeserving, GAO Says

QUOTE: 'We know that it's millions of dollars,' said Lawrence J. Dyckman, who co-wrote the report. 'But we don't know if we're talking about hundreds of millions or half a billion. We really don't know and, unfortunately, the USDA doesn't know either because they haven't paid enough attention to this.'

 Washington Post
May 12, 2004 Public Paid for Bogus Degrees: Some Federal Workers Used Diploma Mills, GAO Finds

QUOTE: Some federal employees have purchased bogus academic degrees at taxpayers' expense to stroke their egos and help them qualify for jobs and promotions, congressional investigators said yesterday.

 Washington Post
Mar 29, 2004 Follow-Up To Kofigate

QUOTE: At least $5 billion in kickbacks went from corrupt contractors — mainly French and Russian — into the pockets of Saddam and his thugs. Some went to pay off his protectors in foreign governments and media, and we may soon see how much stuck to the fingers of U.N. bureaucrats as well.

 New York Times
Mar 29, 2004 Would-be Tribes Entice Investors

QUOTE: A group of people of American Indian heritage, eyeing potential gambling profits...have created another tribe in search of wealth: the troop of genealogists, historians, treaty experts, lobbyists and lawyers they hire to guide them through the process.

 New York Times
Mar 23, 2004 Oil for Food: Annan Seeks to Blunt Allegations

QUOTE: Secretary General Kofi Annan is pressing reluctant members of the Security Council to help investigate charges of corruption in the oil-for-food program that it ran in Iraq...

 New York Times
Feb 19, 2004 Recruiting Uncle Sam

QUOTE: Before government officials can begin negotiating jobs in the private sector, they must recuse themselves from making decisions that could have a financial impact on their potential employers....But the defense companies are so huge and the rules so elastic that loopholes exist.

 Washington Post
Jul 07, 2003 Report Criticizes Federal Oversight of State Medicaid

QUOTE: Congressional investigators found "medical and physical neglect" of some Medicaid recipients..."States prepare good plans of care for Medicaid recipients, but there's no follow-through"...

 New York Times
Jun 19, 2003 Cops Find 'Terror' In Every Rap Sheet

QUOTE: ...federal prosecutors across the country are turning in creative anti-terrorism records to their superiors in Washington, who are under enormous pressure to produce results...The result is an epidemic of phony reporting.

Washington Monthly
May 10, 2003 Less Childcare for Harder Working Poor

QUOTE: In the past two years, 25 states and the District of Columbia have cut child care access for low-income families. Meanwhile, the Bush administration calls on states to require more welfare recipients to work and for longer hours.

 Women's eNews
Apr 23, 2003 U.S. Sugar Industry Targets New Study

QUOTE: The sugar industry has launched a vigorous campaign to discredit a World Health Organization report on healthful diets, questioning why the Geneva-based group would urge people to derive no more than 10 percent of their daily caloric intake from sugar additives.

 Washington Post
Apr 20, 2003 Creative Deal or Highflying Pork?

QUOTE: The proposal would lease 100 planes — Boeing 767 airborne refueling tankers — to the Air Force. To critics, it is a perfect example not only of creative accounting but also of the political pork that has crept into government spending since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

 New York Times
Jan 07, 2003 American Indians Say Government Has Cheated Them Out of Billions

QUOTE: In a voluminous filing that included detailed private records of oil extraction and mineral mining going back to the late 19th century, lawyers for the Indians said the government had stolen, lost or misallocated tens of billions...

 New York Times

33 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 13]