Article 62. Enhanced Auditing a Tool for Government Reform
Traditionally auditors have been accountants, who audit the books for misuse of funds and government property, make recommendations and follow up on corrective actions. With Enhanced Auditing the auditors job function is expanded to audit all government resources. Government resources include use of public funds, property (including facilities) and employee man-hours. If you are tasked with eliminating waste fraud and abuse why would you limit this to money and property? Most government waste is in man-hours yet this is mostly off limits for auditors. The reason is found in that tradition auditors are usually accountants who have only looked at the books to follow the money and property trail limiting the scope of their job.
With Enhanced Auditing industrial engineers are added to the staff to do time study audits at the suspect work place. Time study auditors would conduct a time study of a particular function determine the best way to do the processes and implement the new method eliminating the wasted man-hours. Employees no longer required are sent to a retraining center to be trained for a new job if no new jobs are available the employee is terminated. If more than a few employees are found to be redundant then management should be held accountable just as if they had misused public funds. This the best way to implement the “Cost and Schedule” approach to government reform. A second approach is in using Work Improvement Teams (WIT) outline in other articles.
Why is Enhanced Auditing one of the best tools for reforming government? Because it is a cost effective way and to get government reform. The reason is found in the duty of auditors to protect the public’s interests. Using simple logic public interests include all of the state’s resources and logically auditors should be tasked with protecting all of the public’s resources. This is the best argument that can be used in convincing the State Legislature to fund Enhanced Auditing. A second reason is that the industrial engineering staff can be added slowly to the State Auditor’s office until they prove their worth over time. State Legislatures are less likely to fund the expensive alternative an outside Management Consulting firm.
Now let’s look at an example of Enhanced Auditing. A large bureaucratic agency fails to meet its Performance Budgeting goals and does nothing to take corrective action. There is suspected over runs in man-hours and the legislature wants to cut the agency’s budget. The agency responds that if the budget is cut public services will be cut. The legislature calls for an audit of the specified public services and the time study auditors respond. The time study auditors determine what the correct man-hours should be and the budget is cut accordingly. The new method for doing a function’s processes is included in the functions funding formula for Performance Budgeting.
See Article 23. “The Relationship between Needs, Functions, Funding Formulas, and Performance Budgeting” and Article 24. “Establishing a Funding Formula for Performance Budgeting”.
The process of time studying field and office areas is what I call the “Cost and Schedule” approach. A second alternative method is the implementation of “Work Improvement Teams (WIT). For more information see the following:
Article 1. “Reforming Business and Government Bureaucracies”.
Article 3. “How to Determine the Correct Staffing Level for a Function”.
Article 4. “Finding the Correct Office Staffing Level”.
Article 5. “Government Bureaucracies and Document Turn-Around Time”.
Article 12. “Which Approach to use in State Government ‘Cost and Schedule’ or ‘Work Improvement Teams‘?”.
Article 15. “What is a Time-Study Analyst and How Does He Do His Job?”.
