Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Federal Audit Plans

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
Subject: Sharing Federal Audit Plans

The Administration is committed to forging new ties of cooperation among all levels of government. We want to eliminate the duplication and wasteful effort that too often has accompanied the management of Federal grants to State and local governments.

One area where improvements can be made is in coordinating the audit of these grants. All three levels of government have audit responsibilities, but it does not make sense for them all to audit the same transactions. Therefore, in order to improve coordination, I am ordering all Federal executive agencies to make public the State and local portion of the annual audit plans required by Federal Management Circular 73-2. The plans will be available to State and local governments, to the National and Regional Intergovernmental Audit Forums, and to other interested parties. The plans would also be available to the general public, and would be submitted to OMB prior to the beginning of the fiscal year in which they are to be implemented. They should be updated periodically throughout the year as significant changes are made.

I expect Federal agencies to use their audit plans as a basis for making greater efforts to improve interagency cooperation on audits, to increase Federal coordination with State and local auditors, and to increase reliance on audits made by others.

JIMMY CARTER