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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
20-N-0230
July 16, 2020
Why We Did This Project
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of
Inspector General operates and
maintains a system of quality
control designed to provide
reasonable assurance that
personnel performing audits
comply with the generally
accepted government auditing
standards, known as GAGAS,
and established OIG policies
and procedures.
Quality assurance directors
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 must
be performed at least once
every three years.
This report addresses the
following EPA OIG goal:
• Improving 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.
List of OIG reports.
Internal Quality Assurance Review of EPA OIG
Audit Assignments Completed in Fiscal Year 2019
What We Found
OIG audit reports issued in
FY 2019 demonstrated high
levels of compliance with OIG
quality assurance procedures,
receiving an average
compliance score of 92 percent.
Internal compliance reviews of EPA OIG
audit assignments completed in fiscal
year 2019 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 were performed
and reported in conformity with GAGAS.
As part of our internal quality assurance review, we evaluated the OIG's audit
activities for reports issued during FY 2019 and found that the projects complied
with GAGAS and generally complied with OIG policies and procedures. The
average compliance monitoring score was 91.95 out of 100. Similar to FY 2017
and FY 2018, the only systemic issue identified was the estimation and approval
of project time frames and cost estimates. This issue continued to occur in
FY 2019, in part, because corrective actions for a related recommendation—
which was originally issued in the FY 2017 quality assurance review report and
reissued in the FY 2018 quality assurance review report—were not implemented
until October 2019. When reports are not timely and current, their relevance and
usefulness can be diminished.
In addition, our internal quality assurance review assessed the OIG's compliance
with GAGAS independence and competence standards, and we did not identify
any significant issues. However, while all staff met the continuing professional
education requirement for the FY 2018-FY 2019 cycle, we found some minor
discrepancies. The OIG should ensure that all training records of completion are
adequately documented in the training records system. Additionally, the OIG
should ensure that it is maintaining all personal impairment forms for record-
keeping purposes.
Finally, our internal quality assurance review assessed the eight non-GAGAS
reports issued by the EPA OIG in FY 2019 and found that four did not contain the
required statement that the work was not performed in accordance with GAGAS.
Additionally, we noted a significant increase in non-GAGAS work from the
previous year. OIG Policy 101, Project Management Handbook for Auditing, has
been revised to address these issues.
We make no recommendations in this report but will review the implementation of
corrective actions taken to address our findings during the FY 2020 internal
quality assurance review. The acting assistant inspector general for Audit and
Evaluation agreed with our findings and committed to the continued monitoring of
the corrective actions already in place.

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