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By: FEDweek StaffA committee of inspectors general from agencies involved in financial matters has emphasized to the incoming Biden administration the independence of IGs and of their committee, a reminder of their special status that been a source of conflict between those offices and senior agency management for decades.
The Council of Inspectors General on Financial Oversight, a group of nine IGs in those agencies, said in its Presidential Transition Handbook that IGs—and by extension, their group—“must perform their audits, investigations, evaluations and special reviews objectively and independently from the agency. As in past transitions, the CIGFO member IGs remain in office when presidential administrations change.”
It pointed to provisions of law that “seek to ensure IG independence, in both reality and appearance,” including that an agency generally “may not prevent the IG from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation.” Further, it stressed that IGs report only to the agency head, or in some cases to the next-highest official, and that agencies are obligated to provide IGs access to relevant information “without delay.”
The guide also says that once leadership of Treasury and other financial agencies is in place, it is “critical” that they have “regular and candid communications” with the IG council, for reasons including creating a forum where the council can “raise any impediments to its work or any areas that it believes needs management attention.”
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