LEADING INSIGHTS AGA 2023 Inspector General and State Auditor Survey Highlights Proactive Oversight Community

Leading Insights: AGA 2023 Inspector General and State Auditor Survey Highlights Proactive Oversight Community

By Ann Ebberts, CEO, AGA, and David Zavada, Senior Partner, Kearney & Company

Over the past 11 years, AGA and its corporate sponsor Kearney & Company (Kearney) have collaborated to produce the AGA Inspector General (IG) and State Auditor Survey (Survey). Given the significant role of federal IGs and state auditors in overseeing more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief funds, the 2022 Survey focused on ways they accomplished this extraordinary task. In that Survey, AGA reported on an oversight community that rose to the occasion with considerable innovation, collaboration, and communication across and between levels of government. A large portion of this collaboration and information sharing was facilitated by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), created through the CARES Act. Other innovative practices included: a) using agile oversight to expeditiously report findings; and b) establishing a valuable and enhanced data analytics capacity through the Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE), established within the PRAC.

The 2023 Survey once again includes the perspectives of federal IGs and state auditors on the central question: Are these innovative approaches and lessons learned changing the way oversight will be conducted in the future? It discusses ways audit and reporting approaches are being adapted, as well as potential risks of complacency. The Survey noted: a) an increasing emphasis on data sharing to improve program integrity; b) greater use of data analytics to enhance capability and effectiveness; c) a focus on assessing the impact of pandemic relief programs; d) the successes and challenges related to a changing workforce; and e) a challenging and complex oversight environment overall.

In every Survey conducted over the years, the IG community has expressed concern over inadequate data sharing to improve program integrity. In the 2023 Survey, they said data sharing is needed not only to detect fraud, waste and abuse after a payment is made, but also, and more importantly, to enable management to implement internal controls upfront to avoid the improper payments and fraud caused by a pay-and-chase approach. They also voiced concerns about the level of fraud in pandemic relief programs due to the self-certification of benefits eligibility and how it heightened the need for broader and more secure data sharing. The Survey describes situations in which pandemic relief benefits were distributed, yet data was not shared across and between governments to verify benefits eligibility; and it points out the value of ready access to reliable data to improve program integrity and detect fraud. Moreover, the Survey delves into reasons why getting access to data is often a lengthy process, fraught with complexities, impediments, protections, and other issues; and it shares the desire among the oversight community to continue to illuminate the issue of data sharing and its impact on preparedness.

The 2023 Survey highlights the enhanced data analytics capacity developing within the broader oversight community and the key drivers that have accelerated it, such as the establishment of the PACE and investments by individual oversight offices to expand and enhance their analytics capabilities. The sheer volume of pandemic relief programs, along with high levels of fraud, hotline, and investigative activities, necessitated greater reliance on data analytics and required collaboration on audits and investigations between the PRAC and individual oversight offices.

This year’s Survey also explores how the oversight community is adapting to a changing environment and the leadership needed to successfully address challenges related to the workforce, budget, technology, and a divided government. It also looks at various ways oversight offices are operating, and their successes and challenges in working with a largely remote workforce. Finally, the Survey examines how oversight offices and leaders are navigating the complex post-pandemic milieu, especially in light of ongoing workforce, budget, communication, and preparedness challenges.

Overall, the 2023 Survey highlights a proactive oversight community that is transitioning to a post-pandemic environment. Although challenges remain, the community as a whole is poised to meet them and seize what may be another pivotal opportunity for positive change.

AGA and Kearney are grateful for the candor of federal and state government audit and oversight community leaders and their generous contributions of time to respond to our Survey. We also appreciate and applaud their extraordinary efforts and successes in identifying and reducing fraud, waste, and abuse in our government.

This is a reprint of an article that appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of the AGA Journal. It previews AGA’s 2023 IG and State Auditor Survey, which was sponsored by Kearney. The full Survey will publish in February 2024.