Careers
Financial Management and Assurance
Our Work
The mission of the Financial Management and Assurance team is twofold. First, we help to transform the federal government’s financial operations to meet the challenges of the 21st century, including those related to financial management infrastructure, accountability for assets and operations, and the reliability of financial information. Our focus in this area is on actions needed to ensure that timely, accurate, and useful financial information is available for making decisions, monitoring performance day to day, and maintaining accountability and stewardship. Second, primarily through our Forensic Audit and Special Investigations Unit (FSI), we support congressional oversight by exposing fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive activities across government. Our areas of expertise include financial audits, forensic audits and investigations, accounting and auditing standards, and financial analysis.
We help Congress ensure the full and effective implementation of the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act, the 1994 Government Management Reform Act, the 1996 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act, and other crosscutting financial management legislation. A key driver of this work is the legislative requirement for GAO to audit the U.S. government’s annual financial statements and conduct other mandated financial audits. Further, we identify opportunities for improving accountability for assets through our FSI security vulnerability assessments, forensic audits, and special investigations of areas of government operations that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse.