GAO RESPONSIBILITIES Mr. STAATS. Beyond this, there is the benefit to good government that results just from the presence of an agency like GAO which can search out problems and make them visible to the Congress and to the public. The advantage of this continuing oversight presence and of work such as our emphasis on the detection of fraud and abuse, while apparent, is incalculable. A few points need to be made about GAO's responsibilities and the workload that arises from them. GAO has two major roles. I want to emphasize this point. We are the independent auditor and evaluator of the operations of the executive agencies and the support arm of the Congress. Beginning with the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 and the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950, Congress assigned GAO a number of continuing responsibilities, the most comprehensive of which is to provide audit and evaluation oversight over Federal agencies, their programs, their contractors and their grantees. Since then, legislation establishing new agencies and new programs has regularly included an audit clause to provide GAO access to the required information and records. Each new agency and each new or expanded program, thus, automatically increases our workload. I might add that Federal expenditures for the programs which GAO is required to audit have increased by almost 5 times since fiscal year 1966. With your permission, at this point I would like to insert into the record a statement of the statutory responsibilities placed on the GAO by the Congress in the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921; section 312 of the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950; section 111 D of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946; the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. The reason that I ask to have this placed in the record is to emphasize that the Congress has mandated GAO to audit and evaluate and oversee all of the executive agencies of the government, and that is a different responsibility than we have when we serve as the support arm of the Congress and respond to requests that we receive from Members and committees. Congress has every reason to expect us, within staff limits, to audit every agency of the government, and this goes back to the 1921 legislation which required that we have to do this and make recommendations to Congress with respect to improvements in government operations. That responsiblity has been elaborated on and enlarged in the 1946, 1950, 1970, and 1974 Acts. This point is not always understood by the Congress and the public. We have this basic responsibility on behalf of the Congress as the independent auditor of the entire Executive Branch. The only agency that we do not audit now is the CIA. When I came to the office we didn't audit the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Banking agencies or the international lending agencies. I could go on down the list. During this period of time we have had our jurisdiction expanded to include everything in the Executive Branch except the CIA. Mr. RUDD. Let me interrupt. Has this expanded jurisdiction been a gradual process as the result of added requests or mandates by the Congress? Mr. STAATS. Most of it has been the result of specific legislation enacted by the Congress since I have become Comptroller General. We did not need new legislation to audit the FBI, although we had not previously audited that agency. Our work at the FBI came about because of the interest of the Judiciary Committees. Previously we had not been admitted to the FBI. Mr. RUDD. What year did that take place? Mr. STAATS. In December 1974. Mr. BENJAMIN. Without objection, the materials that you have offered are accepted for the record. [The information follows:] Section 312 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. § 53) provides: "(a) The Comptroller General shall investigate, at the seat of government or elsewhere, all matters "(b) He shall make such investigations and reports as shall be ordered by either House of Congress or by any committee of either House having jurisdiction over revenue, appropriations, or expenditures. The Comptroller General shall also, at the request of any such committee, direct assistants from his office to furnish the committee such aid and information as it may request. "(c) The Comptroller General shall specially report to Congress every expenditure or contract made by any department or establishment in any year in violation of law. "(d) He shall submit to Congress reports upon the adequacy and effectiveness of the administrative examination of accounts and claims in the respective departments and establishments and upon the adequacy and effectiveness of departmental inspection of the offices and accounts of fiscal officers. "(e) He shall furnish such information relating to expenditures and accounting to the Office of Management and Budget as it may request from time to time." Section 117 of the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. § 67) provides: "(a) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, the financial transactions of each executive, legislative, and judicial agency, including but not limited to the accounts of accountable officers, shall be audited by the General Accounting Office in accordance with such principles and procedures and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States. In the determination of auditing procedures to be followed and the extent of examination of vouchers and other documents, the Comptroller General shall give due regard to generally accepted principles of auditing, including consideration of the effectiveness of accounting organizations and systems, internal audit and control, and related administrative practices of the respective agencies. * * * * * Section 206 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (31 U.S.C. § 60) provides: "The Comptroller General is authorizd and directed to make an expenditure analysis of each agency in the executive branch of the Government (including Government corporations), which, in the opinion of the Comptroller General, will enable Congress to determine whether public funds have been economically and effi ciently administered and expended. ***" Section 204 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, as amended in 1974 (31 U.S.C. § 1154) provides: "(a) The Comptroller General shall review and evaluate the results of Government programs and activities carried on under existing law when ordered by either House of Congress, or upon his own initiative, or when requested by any committee of the two Houses, having jurisdiction over such programs and activities. *** 11 Section 105 of the Government Corporation Control Act, as amended (31 U.S.C. § 850) provides: "The financial transactions of wholly owned Government corporations shall be audited by the General Accounting Office in accordance with the principles and procedures applicable to commercial corporate transactions and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States: ***"' Section 202 of the Government Corporation Control Act, as amended (31 U.S.C. § 857) provides: "The financial transactions of mixed-ownership Government corporations for any period during which Government capital has been invested therein shall be audited by the General Accounting Office in accor dance with the principles and procedures applicable to commercial corporate transactions and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States. *** |