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GAO-23-106596 1 (2023-06-05)

handle is hein.gao/gaoosv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways How many agencies included the selected elements and followed the submission process? GAO and the Inspectors General (IG) make recommendations to federal agencies on an ongoing basis. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-50 Revised, published in 1982, directed agencies to assure prompt implementation of audit recommendations.1 While agencies continue to implement the majority of GAO's recommendations, our recommendation database contained more than 4,800 unimplemented recommendations across the federal government, as of May 2023. If implemented, these recommendations could result in significant benefits, including increased savings and revenues, enhanced services to the public, and improved federal programs. The Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act (GAO-IG Act), enacted in 2019, generally requires agencies to report on the status of unimplemented GAO and IG recommendations with their annual budget justification.2 According to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the reporting requirements are designed to (1) increase public accountability for unimplemented recommendations and (2) inform the federal budget process.3 House Report 117-389 includes a provision for us to review agency compliance with GAO-IG Act reporting requirements and identify any barriers to compliance.4 This report examines 24 federal agencies' GAO-IG Act reporting with their fiscal year 2024 budget justifications. We reviewed the extent to which these agencies included selected required reporting elements and followed the submission process requirements. Additionally, we identified challenges to producing the reports and opportunities to improve the usefulness of the information. Sixteen of 24 agencies both included the selected reporting elements with their fiscal year 2024 budget justifications and followed the submission process, but the level of detail in their reporting varied. Some agencies described practices that helped facilitate compliance and useful reporting that could benefit other agencies if adopted. Improved guidance from OMB could increase reporting consistency. We recommend OMB clarify the reporting requirements and instruct agencies to adopt practices, as appropriate, to improve their reporting. The majority of the agencies in our review (20 of 24) generally included the selected required elements-reporting on open recommendations and providing status information on their implementation-in their GAO-IG Act reporting for their fiscal year 2024 budget justification.5 The four other agencies reported but did not provide status information for each recommendation listed. More than half of the agencies in our review (16 of 24) also generally followed the submission process requirements-which include publishing the GAO-IG Act Page 1 GAO-23-106596 Audit Recommendations Page 1 GAO-23-106596 Audit Recommendations