Tone at the Top

Regarding the audit by the Government Accountability Office I mentioned in an earlier post, it is disappointing to note that lawmakers are only criticizing the DOD audit agency for not following standards. Of course they should have. Audit management made many mistakes, including not assigning adequately trained staff, not providing supervision, and placing too much emphasis on meeting timelines. But what is not being discussed is the climate that exists that allows this kind of pressure to be put on auditors. When an auditor is not fully independent from the agency it audits, relationships develop and subtle, or not so subtle, pressures can occur to be "part of the team." Unfortunately, an auditor can't be part of the team. The auditor is part of the bigger team, the one that works for good government.