Deloitte Public Sector Research Releases GAO Implementation Report

More than 40,000 GAO recommendations totaling over 1.5 million pages were analyzed using text analytics

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Feb 18, 2015, 09:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Deloitte Public Sector Research released a report titled "Accountability quantified: What 26 years of GAO reports can teach us about government management." The study aims to assist federal leaders by drawing upon management insights from 1.3 million pages of Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports and to use the GAO as an example of how federal agencies can better structure the internal oversight activities to quantify accountability and drive results.

The study analyzed more than 40,000 recommendations using text analytics and asked seven key questions to assess the GAO effectiveness as a change agent in government, and to understand the areas the office historically tends to focus on.

"This report is one of the first deep analyses of government data using text analytics," says William D. Eggers, director of public sector research at Deloitte Services LP. "We analyzed more than 1.3 million pages of recommendations from the GAO over the past 26 years. It not only unearthed key insights that would be nearly impossible for the human eye to see, but it will help federal leaders improve the structures of their internal oversight activities to quantify accountability and drive results."

The report shows that over the past 26 years, 81 percent of GAO recommendations to government agencies have been implemented. Four topics stood out as areas that were most frequently implemented: information security recommendations were implemented at 91 percent, information technology, education, and equal opportunity recommendations were implemented at 87 percent each.

Over the past three decades the same four issue areas investigated by GAO remained consistent: auditing and financial management, government operations, justice and law enforcement, and national defense. These top-line trends transcended party control and presidential management agendas.

The report also found that the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) recommendations have a 2 percent higher rate of success than non-GPRA related recommendations. Previously it was thought that GPRA recommendations would be harder to execute and therefore have a lower success rate.

For this report an interactive dashboard has been created to display agencies' success rate in completing GAO recommendations over time. The dashboard contains thousands unique charts that are easily embedded.

About Deloitte Public Sector Research
Deloitte Public Sector Research (PSR) is a member of the Deloitte's Brand and Eminence Group. PSR is responsible for research and thought leadership for Deloitte's Public Sector industry practice.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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