GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

The Government Accountability Office is the nonpartisan investigative and auditing arm of Congress. It reviews how federal agencies spend public money, whether programs achieve their stated objectives, where fraud and waste are occurring, and whether agencies are complying with the law. GAO publishes approximately 1,300 reports per year and has documented more than $1.45 trillion in financial benefits to the federal government since 2002. This section documents GAO's major findings across administrations - audit results, High Risk List designations, recommendation compliance rates by agency and administration, improper payment findings, and GAO's assessment of programs and systems the federal government itself has identified as most vulnerable to failure. Sources are drawn directly from GAO-published reports and testimony. The archive will expand as additional records are completed.