Inspector General's Office Releases FY 2012 Audit Work Plan
October 06, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2011
Contact: (410) 965-2671
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Social Security Administration (SSA) recently released its Office of Audit Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2012. The plan is available here.
The plan identifies the major management and performance challenges facing SSA and describes more than 130 reviews that the OIG’s Office of Audit intends to begin in Fiscal Year 2012. The plan also serves as a tool for communicating OIG’s priorities to SSA, Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, and other interested parties.
For Fiscal Year 2012, OIG identified the following SSA management challenges:
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Strengthen Strategic and Tactical Planning
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Improve Customer Service
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Improve the Timeliness and Quality of the Disability Process
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Improve Transparency and Accountability
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Invest in Information Technology Infrastructure to Support Current and Future Workloads
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Reduce Improper Payments and Increase Overpayment Recoveries
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Reduce the Hearings Backlog and Prevent its Recurrence
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Strengthen the Integrity and Protection of the Social Security Number
For example, OIG’s Office of Audit plans to begin 47 reviews in Fiscal Year 2012 related to the management challenge, “Reduce Improper Payments and Increase Overpayment Recoveries.”
“SSA is responsible for issuing $700 billion in benefit payments annually to about 60 million people. Given the amount involved, even the slightest error in the overall payment process can result in millions of dollars in overpayments or underpayments,” the plan states.
The SSA Office of the Inspector General is directly responsible for promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of SSA programs and operations, and for preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in such programs and operations. OIG accomplishes this through a comprehensive program of audits, evaluations, and investigations related to SSA’s programs and operations.
For more information, please contact the OIG's Office of External Relations at (410) 965-2671.