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The General Accounting Office.


The General Accounting Office (GAO) is an independent federal agency working to improve federal government accountability The traceability of actions performed on a system to a specific system entity (user, process, device). For example, the use of unique user identification and authentication supports accountability; the use of shared user IDs and passwords destroys accountability.  by alerting policy makers and the public to emerging problems throughout the government. The GAO gathers information to help Congress determine how well Executive Branch agencies are doing their jobs. The GAO provides oversight
For Oversight in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Oversight.


Oversight may refer to:
  • Government regulation — The role of an official authority in regulating a separate authority.
 in such areas as evaluating how well government policies and programs are working, auditing agencies to determine if federal funds Federal Funds

Funds deposited to regional Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks, including funds in excess of reserve requirements.

Notes:
These non-interest bearing deposits are lent out at the Fed funds rate to other banks unable to meet overnight reserve
 are being spent effectively, investigating illegal activities, and issuing legal decisions and opinions. Reports are generated on topics ranging from air pollution to automated teller machines automated teller machine (ATM), device used by bank customers to process account transactions. Typically, a user inserts into the ATM a special plastic card that is encoded with information on a magnetic strip. .

The GAO has published more than 1,000 reports and each year issues hundreds of reports of testimony before Congress. Most of these publications are available online at the GAO home page located at http://www.gao.gov/. Publications are available in both summary and full text files, and are often posted within 24 hours of their release. By clicking on the GAO Reports link on the home page, visitors can select from Today's Reports to keep up to date on the latest GAO studies, New Testimony to access reports that are up to five days old, or Recent Reports and Testimony for reports older than five days. Most are searchable by title or subject and are updated daily.

From the GAO Reports page, visitors can get the best overall picture of the agency's work by selecting a month under the Month in Review heading to see abstracts of each report published during that month. There is also an option to search the GAO archives database. This includes all publicly released GAO reports from fiscal year 1995 to the present. To view the GAO Strategic Plan, 2000-2005, browsers can select that title under the Special Collections In library science, special collections (often abbreviated to Spec. Coll. or S.C.) is the name applied to a specific repository within a library which stores materials of a "special" nature.  heading. Also included under Special Collections are GAO performance and accountability series reports, high-risk high-risk adjective Referring to an ↑ risk of suffering from a particular condition Infectious disease Referring to an ↑ risk for exposure to blood-borne pathogens, which occurs with blood bank technicians, dental professionals, dialysis unit  updates (listed by various departments such as agriculture, education, energy, labor, and justice), and reports on different agencies' implementation of the Governmental Performance and Results Act.

Back on the home page, visitors can click on Other Publications to see listings of special policy and guidance reports, such as Community Development: Local Growth Issues--Federal Opportunities and Challenges. Additional links include an opportunity to request copies of reports, as well as access to Fraudnet, a means for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement mis·man·age  
tr.v. mis·man·aged, mis·man·ag·ing, mis·man·ag·es
To manage badly or carelessly.



mis·manage·ment n.
 of federal funds to the GAO online.

Under the GAO Legal Products link, visitors can find reports on various federal agency rules, as well as decisions and opinions of the GAO comptroller general Noun 1. Comptroller General - a United States federal official who supervises expenditures and settles claims against the government
functionary, official - a worker who holds or is invested with an office
 in areas of federal law including bid protests and appropriations. The Market Mechanisms for Student Loans link provides meeting notes, background reports, and proposals produced by a study group sponsored jointly by the GAO and the Department of Education.
COPYRIGHT 2000 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2000, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Article Details
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Author:Greene, Lindsey A.
Publication:Environmental Health Perspectives
Date:Oct 1, 2000
Words:459
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