Trends in the Social Security Administration’s Conference Expenditures
Office Affiliation: The Office of Audit
Audit Report Number: A-05-16-50230
The November 2011 Executive Order 13589, Promoting Efficient Spending, and the May 2012 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-12-12, Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations, require that Federal agencies exercise discretion and judgment with respect to spending. Agencies must ensure expenses are appropriate, necessary, and managed in a way that minimizes expenses, including spending on conferences.
In accordance with subsequent legislation and OMB guidance, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is required to notify the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of conferences that cost more than $20,000 within 15 days of when each is held. SSA must also report detailed expenses annually for conferences that cost more than $100,000.
Annual reports include a description of each conference’s purpose, the number of participants attending, a detailed statement of the costs to the Government, and a description of the contracting procedures used. In this report, we reviewed SSA's 1) compliance with Federal conference reporting requirements and 2) trends in its internal and external conference expenditure reporting.