Congress created the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) in 1921 as a nonpartisan office to assist with oversight of general government operations by independently auditing federal agencies. As part of the legislative branch, the GAO is independent of...

An independent US agency, outside the Executive Office, directly responsible to the US Congress for seeing that the funds voted by Congress are spent as enacted in...

Government accounting has been viewed historically as a key element in the movement from absolute power, (i.e., the government or a king or emperor) to relative power (i.e., a shared model of government). Under the shared model of government,...

Generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS)—informally known as the Yellow Book—are promulgated under the leadership of the comptroller general of the United States, who heads the U.S. General Accounting Office. The...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the Legislative branch of the United States Government. The GAO was established as the General Accounting Office...

Explosives looted from Iraq munitions sites probably will continue to support terrorist attacks throughout the region, a congressional report said Thursday. It said some sites were still not secure more than 3 1/2 years after the war started.Failure to guard the sites "has been costly,"...

The Pentagon is sending a team of investigators to Iraq because of the growing number of cases of fraud and other irregularities in contracts involving weapons and supplies for Iraqi forces."The (Defense) Department is concerned with the number of contracting improprieties" that have been uncovered,...

The Defense Department has spent nearly $31 million in payments to Iraqis or Afghans who suffered as a result of U.S. combat operations.The payments, up to $2,500 per incident, are given as a token of sympathy or remorse toward a victim or victim's family for...

Republican lawmakers on Tuesday asked investigators to examine whether Bush administration efforts to transfer $25 million from a North Korean account would violate money laundering and counterfeit laws.Six members of Congress, including the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, asked...