*. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	19~n~0167
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Project
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA's)
Office of Inspector General
(OIG) operates and maintains a
system of quality controls
designed to provide reasonable
assurance that personnel
performing audit or evaluation
functions comply with all
generally accepted government
auditing standards (GAGAS)
and established OIG policies
and procedures.
Quality assurance staff from
the OIG's Office of Audit and
Evaluation report annually on
systemic issues identified
during referencing and
compliance monitoring reviews.
They also make observations
on compliance with GAGAS
and OIG policy.
In addition, GAGAS requires
that each organization
performing audits in
accordance with these
standards have an external
peer review. Peer reviews of
the OIGs must be performed at
least once every 3 years.
This report addresses the
following EPA OIG goal:
• Improve OIG processes,
resource allocation and
accountability to meet
stakeholder needs.
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.oiq.
Quality Assurance Review of EPA OIG Audit
Assignments Completed in Fiscal Year 2018
What We Found
Internal reviews of EPA OIG audit
assignments completed in fiscal year
(FY) 2018 found that the OIG complied with
GAGAS and substantially complied with OIG
policies and procedures. An external peer
review conducted in FY 2018 also found that
the EPA OIG's system of quality control was suitably designed and complied
with, providing the OIG with reasonable assurance that audits are performed and
reported in conformity with GAGAS.
OIG audit reports issued in
FY 2018 demonstrated high
levels of compliance with OIG
quality assurance procedures,
receiving average compliance
scores of 94 percent.
As part of our internal quality review, we evaluated the OIG's audit activities, from
the preliminary research to the final report. Projects with reports issued in
FY 2018 complied with GAGAS and generally complied with OIG policies. The
average compliance monitoring score was 94.31 out of 100. Similar to FY 2017,
the only systemic issue identified was the estimation and approval of project time
frames and cost estimates. The issue continued to occur because the
recommendation from the FY 2017 quality control review was not implemented in
FY 2018. When reports are not timely and current, their relevance and
usefulness can be diminished.
In addition, our internal quality review assessed the OIG's compliance with
GAGAS independence and competence standards, and we did not identify any
significant issues. However, the office should ensure that it is maintaining all
personal impairment forms for record-keeping purposes.
Recommendations
We recommend that the Assistant Inspector General for Audit and Evaluation
finalize the planned corrective actions to address the FY 2017 quality control
review recommendation. We also recommend that the Assistant Inspector
General for Audit and Evaluation establish internal controls to verify that personal
impairment forms are timely completed and readily accessible for all staff.
Assistant Inspector General Response
The Assistant Inspector General for Audit and Evaluation agreed with the findings
and recommendations and provided milestone dates for implementing the
recommendations.
List of OIG reports.

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