Performance audits can deliver good government
Sunday, August 22, 2004 12:38 AM PDT
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E-mail this articleThe Olympia-based Evergreen Freedom Foundation has been putting pressure on Washington legislators and candidates for state office this summer to pledge their support for comprehensive performance audits of state programs and agencies. We can see no reason why an elected official might hesitate to take the pledge.
Performance-based audits make for good government. They can be counted on to improve government efficiency and hold officials accountable for its performance.
The drive to implement these audits in a comprehensive way and give them teeth has become something of a pet issue for the EFF, one the conservative public policy organization has hammered state officials about for years. Most have been receptive to the organization's appeals, at least in theory.
State Auditor Brian Sonntag, in fact, won legislation to allow performance audits many years ago. But legislators and state officials haven't been receptive to following through on the audits with corrective actions or by holding individuals responsible for problems uncovered.
The EFF seeks legislation that would guarantee the auditor's findings result in corrective action. It wants independent performance audits conducted in accordance with the U.S. General Accounting Office Government Auditing Standards. The organization wants legislation that assures transparency.
The model offered by the EFF would provide that for periodic review and analysis of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of policies, management, fiscal affairs and operations of government programs and agencies. It would have the auditor's report posed on a Web site accessible to all. And it would mandate that the Legislature include that report as part of the appropriations process.
The availability of the auditor's findings to the general public, as well as lawmakers, would likely assure a measure of accountability that's been largely absent from the process in past audits.
The performance reviews, if used as part of the appropriations process, would almost certainly assure significant savings of tax dollars. The EFF has reported that performance audits in Texas have saved taxpayers in that state $9 billion out of $19 billion in identified savings over the past decade.
Washington continues to struggle to close budget shortfalls that have delay needed infrastructure repairs, short-changed the schools and forced tens of thousands of low-income families from the state health plan. The state needs the savings performance audits can deliver. State government can benefit from the added accountability.
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