Accountability and the Government Accountability Office
Accountability is a key component of any business or government since it assures the transparency of operations and resource use as well as personal accountability for acts and behavior. The Government Accountability Office is a well-established, independent, and non-partisan body that works in accordance with the Congress in the United States. Since it actively participates in the investigation of federal government spending made possible by contributions from taxpayers, the Government Accountability Office is often known as the Congressional watchdog (U.S Government Accountability Office, 2017).
The Agency's Goal
As a result, the agency's goal is to effectively support the congress in fulfilling its constitutional responsibility while also promoting federal government performance improvement and accountability. The Office also develops timely objective, factual, nonpartisan, unbiased, nonideological and balanced information for Congress use. Specifically, the Government Accountability Office is responsible for the examination of public funds use, evaluation of federal programs, provision of analysis and recommendations. In this way, Congress is able to be effective in oversight, policy development and funding decisions. The overall outcome of the agency's mission facilitates economic improvement, efficient financial audits, program reviews, policy evaluation and legalities (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2009).
An Example of GAO's Role
An example of GAO's role is seen in a November 2016 report to the Congress concerning the need for detailed systems engineering before product development. A growth in cost and schedule of acquisition programs in the department of defense was observed to be caused by unplanned changes in program requirements. Upon reviewing the requirement process, GAO recommended that Congress should place a requirement demanding for Department of Defence's reports on the engineering status of systems for all major acquisition programs during budget requests. This move would facilitate oversight as well as inform the budget decision (United States Government Accountability Office, 2016). Based on this example, GAO's functions ensure accountability to congress with regard to the constitution as well answerability to the American citizens.
References
U.S Government Accountability Office. (2017). About GAO. Retrieved from U.S Government Accountability Office: https://www.gao.gov/about/
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2009). GAO’s Mission, Responsibilities, Strategies, and Means. Retrieved from Draft GAO Strategic Plan 2004-2009: http://www.gao.gov/dsp/3mission.html
United States Government Accountability Office. (2016). Weapon System Requirements: Detailed Systems Engineering Prior to Product Development Positions Programs for Success. Washington, DC: United States Government Accountability Office.
