Page 25 - Customs Today Winter1984-OCR

resources; participate in the design of ac voted to Operation EXODUS were con officials who are in the best position to
counting and information systems to en sistent with those authorized by Congress facilitate corrective steps, whether located
sure that appropriate internal controls are to stem the flow of strategic technology in Service Headquarters, the region,
built into the systems; and assist in inter out of the United States. An important district or ports.
nal investigations where auditing expertise area of audit interest is contracts. As Following completion of the on-site
may be crucial in developing evidence for mentioned earlier, pre-award contract phase of an inspection, which normally
a successful criminal prosecution. audits are conducted to see if the prices takes from three to five weeks (including
The people working in Internal contractors want to charge Customs are interviews at the regional headquarters,
Audit are mostly professional auditors, reasonable and fair. Other contract all districts and selected ports), a close-
many of whom have attained professional audits are done to verify that contractors out presentation is given to the Regional
recognition as Certified Public Account are living up to their agreements with Commissioner. This briefing includes
ants. They are governed by the rules of Customs. written identification of inspection find
professional conduct issued by the Amer As you can see, all of these kinds of ings and is intended to bring to the
ican Institute of Certified Public Ac audits lead to one point of interest: the Regional Commissioner's attention a
countants, as well as auditing standards reasonable assurance that Customs is get synopsis of inspectional findings. This
published by the General Accounting Of ting a decent bang for its buck. Probably meeting also provides a forum to correct
fice, which is the Federal Government's the single most important reason for any errors of fact. A draft report, in
principal internal audit organization. auditing is that programs, systems and cluding comments from the region, is
Professional rules of conduct and audit activities, are designed and run by peo subsequently sent to all Assistant Com
ing standards are extremely important. ple. People are not perfect; they some missioners, the affected Regional Com
They serve as the foundation for ensur times make mistakes—honestly or other missioner, and the Commissioner. After
ing that the auditors' conclusions are wise. Add to this the complexity of receiving comments from each of these
consistently fair. And it is this consistency modern business and government, where senior level managers, a final report is
that gives management the confidence systems are often beyond the understand issued. This report describes the com
that the auditor's products are reliable ing of any one individual and effective ments of all interested parties and identi
and useful as a management tool. communication is difficult at best. fies the actions that are required by the
Independence, objectivity and fair The report is issued in draft form, to Commissioner.
ness are the key elements of those rules the audited program's officials for their In Fiscal Year 1983, the Office
and standards. Independence means that review and comment. This gives them a assumed oversight responsibilities for the
the auditor and the audit organization re chance to spot any material errors and to program evaluation function in Service
main separate from Customs' day-to-day explain their points of view on issues Headquarters. As part of this respon
activities so as to minimize the possibility where they differ with the auditor. These sibility, all projected Headquarters
of conflicts of interest. Objectivity re comments are used to make corrections evaluations are reported to the Deputy
quires that the method used to conduct to the report, and are included as a part Commissioner at the start of a fiscal year.
an audit be based on established, scien of the final report, giving a balanced pre This report not only provides manage
tific techniques and accepted audit prin sentation of the opinions of the auditors ment with an identification of pending
ciples and standards designed to ensure and the audited program's officials. evaluations, but also provides oppor
that conclusions made by auditors in a tunities for redirecting efforts when
The Management Inspection
report are dependable and free from Function priorities require a change or if duplica
material errors. This last point is impor tion of effort is evident. In addition, the
tant because it gets to the core of an The Office of Management Inspec Office of Management Inspection inde
auditor's product, which is an opinion tion was established in 1979. The Office pendently conducts program evaluations
about the state or condition of the activity was created in order to provide an objec at the request of the Commissioner,
being audited. tive review of the management of a total Deputy Commissioner, or Assistant
So, what kinds of things are audited, region, crossing all major program and Commissioners. Management Inspec
and how does the auditor go about it? For organizational lines. During a fiscal year, tion has conducted the following program
all practical purposes, almost any activity the Office normally conducts two re evaluations: Office of Investigations Case
can be audited. But generally, audits gional inspections and two follow-up Management, Sector Communications,
focus on management systems, especially inspections. The latter inspections are Operation Exodus and Custody of
those that are closely related to the con scheduled six months after issuance of a Seizures.
trol of resources—which are money, peo final management inspection report. Personnel assigned to the Office of
ple and property. Typical examples of The management inspection report Management Inspection are selected
these systems are: financial accounting is not at the level of detail of an audit based on their in-depth knowledge of a
procedures and records used to account report, nor does it take the form of a particular Customs discipline: classifica
for Customs use of public funds, time- compliance survey conducted by a func tion and value, inspection and control,
and-attendance systems used for payroll tional office. Rather, the management enforcement, administration, et al. Pres
purposes and property records used to inspection report analyzes specific Head ently, there are 11 full-time professionals
ensure that supplies and equipment are quarters and Regional programs and on the staff. In addition, both manage
used for their intended purposes. Because policies as examples of overall manage ment inspections and program evalua
an auditor seldom has the opportunity to ment effectiveness. The reports not only tions often require staff augmentation
make a 100-percent examination of identify program and management areas through the detailed assignment of
records, he or she must rely on statistical requiring corrective action, but also iden Customs field managers. This provides
sampling techniques. tify innovative local practices which the Office with current expertise in a par
Audits may also look at operational would be applicable on a broader basis ticular functional program area and also
programs. For example, a recent audit throughout the Service. Report recom permits field managers to broaden their
was conducted to see if the resources de mendations are directed at management understanding of the Customs mission.

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