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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
2007-P-00025
May 24, 2007
Why We Did This Review
The Office of Inspector
General (OIG) undertook this
review to determine (1) the
status of corrective actions
responding to OIG report
recommendations for selected
water reports, and (2) how
complete and up-to-date is the
Management Audit Tracking
System (MATS) report
information for selected OIG
water reports.
Background
Audit followup is essential to
good management and is a
shared responsibility of
agency managers and audit
organizations. The U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has audit
followup procedures and
designated officials who
manage this process. EPA is
required to report to Congress
on audit followup, including
any reasons for delays in
taking corrective actions that
have not been implemented
within 1 year of issuing an
audit report.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional and Public
Liaison at (202) 566-2391.
To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2007/
20070524-2007-P-00025.pdf
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
EPA Can Improve Its Oversight of
Audit Followup
What We Found
EPA is generally undertaking actions for the nine water-related reports in our
review— seven directed to the Office of Water (OW) and two directed to the
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). However, several
actions in response to individual recommendations were delayed past milestone
dates agreed to by the OIG.
Both program offices and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), in its
oversight role, can do more to monitor the audit followup process and ensure that
timely and appropriate corrective actions are taking place. OCFO's annual audit
followup reporting to Congress did not present required information on specific
audit recommendations or reasons for delays in taking corrective actions. The
Agency's audit tracking system, MATS, was also incomplete and contained
mistakes. While OWs official files were generally complete, OECA did not have
files for OIG reports prior to January 2006, including the two reports we reviewed.
Both OW and OECA did not follow the processes specified in EPA Order 2750
for certifying the completion of implementing corrective actions. The OIG will
also improve its followup on audit and evaluation reports.
What We Recommend
We recommend that OW and OECA implement EPA Order 2750 and biannually
review audit management information for accuracy and completeness. We also
recommend that OW and OECA follow the certification process for closing out
reports, maintain a list of corrective actions taken, and obtain OIG approval for
significant changes to corrective action plans.
We recommend that the Chief Financial Officer take several steps, including:
•	Monitoring EPA Order 2750 compliance throughout the Agency.
•	Reporting to Congress the report names and reasons for delay past 365
days for completing corrective actions as required under EPA Order 2750
and the IG Act.
•	Ensuring the validity and reliability of data in MATS by documenting a
quality assurance plan, issuing necessary guidance, and providing
refresher training to Audit Followup Coordinators.
The Agency generally concurred with all of our recommendations.

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