Audit Report

OIG-20-033 

FINANCIAL REGULATION AND OVERSIGHT

OFR's Hiring Practices Complied with Federal 

Requirements

May 1, 2020 

Office of Inspector General

Department of the Treasury
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i 

Contents 

Audit Report

Results in Brief ...................................................................................................2

Background........................................................................................................3

Audit Results...................................................................................................... 6

Finding 1 OFR’s Hiring Practices Were in Accordance with OPM, Treasury, OFR, 

and Other Applicable Federal Requirements ....................................... 6

Appendices

Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology.................................................10

Appendix 2: Management Response....................................................................16

Appendix 3: Major Contributors to This Report.....................................................17

Appendix 4: Report Distribution..........................................................................18

Abbreviations

ARC Administrative Resource Center 

CaRRS Classification and Recruitment Reporting System

DEOH Delegated Examining Operations Handbook

DO Departmental Offices

EEO equal employment opportunity

FSOC Financial Stability Oversight Council

OFR Office of Financial Research 

OHR Office of Human Resources

OIG Office of Inspector General

OPM Office of Personnel Management

Treasury Department of the Treasury

U.S.C. U.S. Code
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The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 1 

May 1, 2020 

Dino Falaschetti, Director 

Office of Financial Research 

This report presents the results of our audit of the Office of 

Financial Research’s (OFR) hiring practices. We performed this 

audit as a continuation of a series of audits of the Department of 

the Treasury’s (Treasury) hiring practices. The objective of our 

audit was to determine whether OFR’s hiring practices are in 

accordance with Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Treasury, 

OFR, and other federal requirements. Specifically, we reviewed 

relevant procedures performed by OFR as part of its responsibilities 

in its hiring process (e.g., issuance of vacancy announcements and 

the selection of candidates). Additionally, while not the subject of 

this audit, we reviewed certain procedures performed by OFR’s 

shared services provider for human resources, the Administrative 

Resource Center (ARC), as part of its role and responsibilities in the 

processing of the OFR vacancy announcements, in order to gain a 

comprehensive understanding of the hiring process. The scope of 

our audit covered the period from January 1, 2014 through 

December 31, 2016.

To accomplish our objective, we gained an understanding of

applicable federal regulations, as well as Treasury and OFR policies 

and procedures related to OFR’s hiring processes. We reviewed 

vacancy announcement data and related documentation. In 

addition, we interviewed personnel from OFR, Treasury, and ARC 

involved in OFR’s hiring process. We also reviewed equal

employment opportunity (EEO) complaints and administrative 

grievances filed with Treasury Departmental Offices’ (DO) Office of 

Human Resources (OHR), as well as grievance decisions and EEO 

investigative reports. We conducted our fieldwork from August 

2017 through October 2018 in Washington, DC. Appendix 1 

contains a more detailed description of our objective, scope, and 

methodology.
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 2 

Results in Brief

During our audit, we concluded that OFR’s administration of the 

recruitment process for filling vacancies complied with applicable 

OPM, Treasury, OFR, and other federal requirements. For example, 

OFR vacancy announcements included all required items for a job 

announcement to attract job seekers. Also, OFR gave members of 

the public an opportunity to compete for vacant positions in their 

agency by publicly announcing most job opportunities on 

USAJOBS1

1

 USAJOBS is a website that provides the public with comprehensive information regarding federal 

employment. Agencies must post their job vacancy announcements on this website as part of the 

public notice requirement.

 for a minimum of five calendar days. Announcements 

opened for a lesser period, were justified.

In addition, per requirements, ARC rated and ranked eligible 

applicants, applying veterans’ preference,

2

2

 A special privilege that entitles qualifying veterans to certain advantages in consideration for federal 

employment.

where applicable.

Thereafter, it referred the names of eligible candidates to the OFR 

selecting official for consideration. Through our review of all 

selectees, we found no instances of veterans being passed over by 

OFR for the selection of non-preference eligibles. Furthermore, in 

response to concerns raised by a whistleblower allegation related 

to potential veterans’ preference violations during the hiring 

process, we performed additional testing and determined that 

ARC’s rating of ineligible for applicable veterans was appropriate. 

As a result of our audit, we are not making any recommendations 

to OFR. 

As part of our reporting process, we provided a draft of this report 

to OFR management for review and comment. In a written 

response, management stated it was pleased with the results of 

our review. Management’s response is provided in its entirety in 

appendix 2.

 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 3 

Background

Title I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act,3

3

 P.L. 111-203 (July 21, 2010) 

enacted July 21, 2010, established OFR within 

Treasury. OFR’s mission is to support the Financial Stability 

Oversight Council (FSOC),4

4

 FSOC, also established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is 

charged with identifying threats to the financial stability of the United States, promoting market 

discipline, and responding to emerging risks to the financial stability of the U.S. financial system. 

FSOC member agencies, and the public 

by improving the quality, transparency, and accessibility of 

financial data and information, by conducting and sponsoring 

research related to financial stability, and by promoting best 

practices in risk management. OFR updated its mission, as outlined 

in its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2015-2019, to include 

promoting financial stability by delivering high-quality financial 

data, standards, and analysis for FSOC and the public.

Treasury officials responsible for the initial stand up of OFR entered 

into an interagency agreement with Treasury’s ARC to support 

administrative functions.5

5

 Reimbursable Services Agreement (Nov. 2010)

The interagency agreement focused on 

leveraging ARC’s shared services; specifically, human resources, 

information systems, and procurement. Among other things, ARC 

provides support in staff acquisition, position classification, and 

personnel action processing to Treasury offices and other 

government agencies.

OFR's Hiring Process

OFR does not have an in-house office of human resources or hiring 

delegation; therefore, it relies on the services of Treasury DO’s

OHR. OHR officials serve in a consultant capacity to OFR in areas 

that include compensation and non-Title 5 benefits, among other 

things. OHR also outsources its human resources operations to 

ARC through a reimbursable service agreement. ARC provides 

support in staff acquisition, position classification, personnel action 

processing and pay and leave administration to Treasury offices 

and other government agencies. OHR and ARC collectively oversee 

OFR’s hiring process. 

 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 4 

Title 5 of the U.S. Code (U.S.C.)6

6

 5 U.S.C Government Organization and Employees

contains government-wide 

personnel management laws and related provisions generally 

applicable to federal employment and the rules agencies must 

follow to make appointments in the Competitive Service, Excepted 

Service, and the Senior Executive Service.7

7

 Competitive Service - consists of all civil service positions in the executive branch, except positions 

which are specifically excepted from the competitive service by statute. 

Excepted Service – consists of those civil service positions which are not in the competitive service 

or the Senior Executive Service. 

Senior Executive Service – consists of any position in an agency which is classified above General 

Schedule 15 pursuant to section 5108 or in level IV or V of the Executive Schedule; or an equivalent 

position, which is not required to be filled by an appointment by the President by and with the advice 

and consent of the Senate. 

In addition to applicable 

laws and regulations, OFR follows policies, procedures, and 

guidance to administer their hiring process, including, but not 

limited to: DO’s Merit Promotion and Internal Placement Plan,

8

8

 DO’s Merit Promotion and Internal Placement Plan (May 2002) 

Treasury’s Excepted Service Employment Policy,

9

9

 Treasury’s Excepted Service Employment Policy (April 2014) 

OFR’s Human 

Resources Policies,

10

10 OFR’s Human Resources Policies (Feb. 2012) 

Treasury’s Effective Hiring Policy,

11

11 Treasury’s Effective Hiring Policy (March 2016) 

and 

OPM’s Delegated Examining Operations Handbook (DEOH). 12

12 OPM’s DEOH (May 2007). OPM’s DEOH provides assistance to agencies with delegated examining 

authority under Title 5 and applies to competitive examining only. The handbook provides agencies 

with guidance, options, and specific operational procedures designed to ensure that examining 

programs comply with merit system laws and regulations.

 

ARC and OHR personnel use four systems to manage the hiring 

process. First, HR Connect is used by the hiring manager to initiate 

the hiring process. This system is also used after an applicant 

selection has been made to process the personnel action (i.e. 

promotion or appointment). Second, prior to being retired during 

October 2015, the Classification and Recruitment Reporting 

System (CaRRS) was - used to track vacancy announcement 

information such as the vacancy announcement number, open and 

close dates, and position title/pay band. Third, Personnel Action 

Workflow System, the successor to CaRRS, is a process 

management system that tracks all the actions in the hiring process 

from initiation of the request to the employee entry on duty. Lastly, 

Career Connector is an online hiring system that automatically rates 

applicants and places the applicants in value categories. It provides 

applicants, human resources practitioners, and managers a 

 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 5 

recruiting solution that meets all federal hiring reform requirements. 

This system interfaces with USAJOBS and allows managers to 

preview job announcements, obtain certificates online, and make 

selections in real time.

The hiring process begins when an OFR official validates a need for 

staff and concludes once the applicant enters on duty. Figure 1 

shows the hiring process steps and the responsible parties. 

Figure 1. OFR Hiring Process

Source: Prepared by OIG based on documentation provided by OHR personnel, OPM’s 

Hiring Elements End-to-End Hiring Roadmap, input from an OFR official, and consultation 

with a human resources professional. 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 6 

Audit Results

Finding 1 OFR’s Hiring Practices Were in Accordance with OPM, 

Treasury, OFR, and Other Applicable Federal 

Requirements 

We reviewed the procedures performed by OFR and the supporting 

documentation relating to OFR’s hiring practices and process. 

Additionally, while not the subject of this audit, we reviewed 

certain procedures performed by ARC as part of its role and 

responsibilities in the processing of the OFR vacancy 

announcements to gain a comprehensive understanding of the 

process. Specifically, and as described further below, we tested 88

out of 480 vacancy announcements for OFR supervisory and nonsupervisory positions from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 

2016.13

13 We initially took a non-statistical sample of 54 out of the total population of 480 vacancy 

announcements. After selecting the sample, we determined that 34 of the 54 vacancy 

announcements selected were considered to be “paired announcements.” Paired announcements are 

when there are two job announcements for the same job. Usually, one job announcement will be 

open to the public and the other job announcement will be open to current or formal federal 

employees. We included the additional 34 vacancy announcements in our sample for a total of 88 

vacancy announcements. See appendix 1 for further details of our sample. 

The positions included OFR pay bands OR 53, OR 60, OR 

70, and OR 80, which are positions similar to General Schedule 13 

through senior executive service, respectively. Based on our 

review, we determined that OFR’s hiring practices were in 

accordance with OPM, Treasury, OFR, and applicable federal 

requirements. Therefore, we are not making any recommendations 

to OFR.

Federal vacancy announcements are the means by which an 

agency advertises its job vacancies, and provide information about

the position being advertised including the title, salary, duties, 

qualification requirements, and application procedures. The 88 

vacancy announcements we reviewed consisted of 30 delegated 

 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 7 

examining announcements,

14

14 Delegated examining authority is granted by OPM to agencies to fill competitive civil service jobs 

with applicants applying from outside the federal workforce, federal employees who do not have 

competitive service status, or federal employees with competitive service status.

36 merit promotion announcements,

15

15 Merit promotion announcements allows a current or former federal employee to apply for a job 

without having to compete with the general public or people with veterans’ preference. Instead, they 

compete only with other competitive service employees. 

4 direct hire announcements,

16

16 Direct hire is an appointing authority that OPM can give to federal agencies for filling vacancies when 

a critical hiring need or severe shortage for candidates exists.

 5 excepted service announcements, 

and 13 cancelled announcements.17

17 Cancelled announcements are announcements that were initiated by the hiring manager but later 

cancelled due to internal errors, duplicate requests, or a hiring freeze, among other reasons. See 

appendix 1, table 1, for a detailed breakdown by pay band of the total vacancy announcements 

reviewed.

 

Based on our review, we concluded that OFR’s administration of 

the recruitment and selection process for filling vacancies complied 

with applicable OPM, Treasury, OFR, and other federal 

requirements. For example, per OPM’s DEOH and DO’s Merit 

Promotion and Internal Placement Plan, OFR administered its 

recruitment process by giving members of the public an opportunity 

to compete for vacant positions by publicly announcing most job 

opportunities on USAJOBS for a minimum of five calendar days. 

For announcements open less than five days, we found appropriate 

justification, as required by OPM’s DEOH. OFR’s job 

announcements included all required items (e.g., agency name, 

announcement number, position title, grade and entrance pay, duty 

location, number of vacancies, and description of duties, among 

other requirements) for a job announcement to attract job seekers. 

Per OPM’s DEOH and DO’s Merit Promotion and Internal Placement 

Plan, ARC rated and ranked eligible applicants. Additionally, per 

OPM’s DEOH, ARC applied veterans’ preference where applicable. 

Per OPM’s DEOH and DO’s Merit Promotion and Internal Placement 

Plan, ARC administered the selection process by creating a 

certificate of eligibles and sending it to the selecting official for 

selection after eligible applicants were ranked. Certificates of 

eligibles typically contain the best qualified -candidates as a result 

of OFR’s public notice and recruitment efforts. We reviewed all 

selections made by the OFR selecting officials and found no 

instances of veterans being passed over for the selection of nonpreference eligibles. Per OPM’s DEOH, a selecting official may not 

 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 8 

pass over a preference eligible to select a non-preference eligible 

unless there are grounds for passing over the preference eligible 

and the agency has complied with the pass over procedures at 5 

U.S.C. 3318.

Furthermore, we determined that 39 individuals were selected from 

the 88 vacancy announcements we reviewed, including 11 

veterans. Although there is no requirement for a certain number of 

veterans to be selected, due to a whistleblower allegation related 

to potential veterans’ preference violations during the hiring 

process, we performed additional testing of delegated examining 

vacancy announcements. Our testing reviewed areas where 

qualifying veterans are entitled to certain advantages in the 

selection process over other applicants. Specifically, we reviewed

28 announcements paired with merit promotion announcements to 

determine if (1) announcements with no candidate selections were 

re-announced and if so, whether selections were made from the reannouncement; (2) veterans who were rated ineligible were rated in 

accordance with the requirements prescribed in OPM’s DEOH; and 

(3) there were any eligibility rating differences for those veterans 

that applied to both “paired” announcements (merit promotion and 

delegated examining).

As a result of our additional testing, we identified 7 paired vacancy 

announcements that met the criteria of no selections made from 

either the delegated examining or the merit promotion 

announcement. Of the 7 paired announcements, 2 were reannounced; however, no selections were made. We reviewed 

vacancy announcement ratings and resumes for veterans who were 

rated differently in paired announcements. Based on our review and 

consultation with a human resources professional, we determined 

that ARC’s rating of ineligible for those veterans appeared 

appropriate. Specifically, the difference in ratings was attributed to 

veterans providing different responses to the eligibility questions on 

the vacancy announcements, which resulted in a rating of eligible 

for one announcement and ineligible for the other. 

We also reviewed EEO complaints and administrative grievances 

filed with DO OHR, as well as grievance decisions and EEO 

investigative reports to determine if violations of prohibited 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 9 

personnel practices related to hiring occurred. It was determined 

that no violations occurred. 

As a result of our audit, we are not making recommendations in 

this report. 

We provided a draft of this report to OFR management for review 

and comment. In a written response, management stated it was 

pleased with the results of our review. Management’s response is 

provided in its entirety in appendix 2.

* * * * * *

We appreciate the courtesies and cooperation extended by your 

staff during the audit. For a list of major contributors to this report, 

see appendix 3, and for report distribution, see appendix 4. If you 

have questions, please contact me at (202) 927-0384.

Jeffrey Dye /s/

Audit Director, Financial Regulation and Oversight

Appendices
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 10

Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Office of 

Financial Research’s (OFR) hiring practices are in accordance with 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Department of the 

Treasury (Treasury), OFR, and other federal requirements. 

Specifically, we reviewed relevant procedures performed by OFR as 

part of its responsibilities in its hiring process (e.g., issuance of 

vacancy announcements and the selection of candidates). 

Additionally, while not the subject of this audit, we reviewed 

certain procedures performed by OFR’s shared service provider for 

human resources, the Administrative Resource Center (ARC), as 

part of its role and responsibilities in the processing of the OFR 

vacancy announcements, in order to gain a comprehensive 

understanding of the hiring process. 

In addressing our audit objective relevant to OFR’s hiring practices, 

we conducted fieldwork from August 2017 through October 2018

in Washington, DC. The scope of our audit covered the period from

January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2016 for vacancy 

announcement data for supervisory and non-supervisory positions, 

specifically, OFR pay bands OR 53, OR 60, OR 70 and OR 80 

(general schedule 13 through senior executive service equivalents, 

respectively). We also reviewed all equal employment opportunity 

(EEO) complaints and administrative grievances filed by OFR 

employees with Treasury Departmental Offices’ (DO) Office of 

Human Resources (OHR) during the same period. 

To accomplish our objective, we performed the following actions:

• We reviewed federal regulations, as well as OPM, Treasury and 

OFR policies and procedures, including:

o Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 

Act of 2010; 

o Treasury’s Departmental Offices Merit Promotion and 

Internal Placement Plan (May 2002); 

o Office of Financial Research Compensation Policy

(January 2015); 

o Office of Financial Research Human Resources Policies

(February 2012); 
Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 11

o OPM’s Delegated Examining Operations Handbook

(DEOH) (May 2007); 

o Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations – 

Administrative Personnel (June 15, 2018); 

o Title 5 U.S.C. – Government Organization and 

Employees; 

o Treasury’s Effective Hiring Policy (March 2016); 

o Treasury’s Excepted Service Employment Policy (April 

2014); 

o Veterans Preference Act of 1944; and

o Title 5 U.S.C. 2302 – Prohibited Personnel Practices. 

• We interviewed the following individuals to gain an 

understanding, among other things, of OFR’s hiring process and 

practices: 

o Administrative Resource Center (ARC) personnel; 

o Treasury Departmental Offices’ Office of Human 

Resource personnel; and

o OFR officials. 

• We reviewed vacancy announcement data for supervisory and 

non-supervisory positions, specifically, OFR pay bands OR 53, 

OR 60, OR 70 and OR 80 (general schedule 13 through senior 

executive service equivalents, respectively). 

• We evaluated the vacancy announcement data for 

completeness and accuracy by interviewing ARC personnel 

knowledgeable about the data and by confirming the resolution 

of some initial discrepancies in the data. We determined that 

the data used to answer the audit objective was accurate and 

complete. 

• We reviewed documents associated with the vacancy 

announcements, including applicants’ resumes, responses to 

eligibility questions, and other supporting documentation.

• The steps we performed to select the vacancy announcements 

for review are described below: 

o From a population of 480 vacancy announcements, we 

selected 10 percent of the total population for review 
Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 12

using a non-statistical selection technique, resulting in the 

selection of 48 announcements. 

o Our selection process consisted of the following steps:

 Calculated the number of announcements per pay 

band per year under review. 

 Selected 10 percent of the total announcements 

per year. 

 Divided the number of announcements by 3 

(number of years under review) to determine how 

many announcements to select from each year. If 

the dividend was not equally divisible by 3, we 

selected the lesser number of announcements from 

the latter year (2016). 

 To make the selections, we considered the position 

titles, the announcement open period, 

announcement type, and whether the 

announcement was marked or otherwise 

identifiable as a re-announcement. 

 In addition, based on an OFR whistleblowerprovided list of vacancy announcements where 

OFR had allegedly violated veterans’ preference, 

we added 6 more announcements for review for a 

total of 54 announcements selected for review.

• During our review, we identified 34 additional announcements 

associated with these announcements, known as “paired 

announcements”, thereby increasing the number reviewed and 

tested to 88. 
Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 13

Table 1. Total Vacancy Announcements Reviewed per Pay Band 

Types of 

Announcements

Total number of 

Announcements 

Reviewed

Announcements 

Reviewed per OFR 

Pay Band

Total 

number of 

Selections 

Total 

number of 

Veterans 

Selected

Delegated 

Examining 30 

OR 53 = 16

OR 60 = 10

OR 70 = 3

OR 80 = 1

14 3 

Merit Promotion 36 

OR 53 = 18

OR 60 = 14

OR 70 = 4

OR 80 = 0

19 8 

Direct Hire 4 

OR 53 = 1

OR 60 = 2

OR 70 = 1

OR 80 = 0

2 0 

Excepted Service 5 

OR 53 = 2 

OR 60 = 2 

OR 70 = 1 

OR 80 = 0

4 0 

Cancelled 13 

OR 53 = 6

OR 60 = 6

OR 70 = 1 

OR 80 = 0

0 0 

Totals 88 OR 53 = 43

OR 60 = 34

OR 70 = 10

OR 80 = 1 

39 11

• We reviewed supporting documentation and tested each of the 

88 vacancy announcements for compliance with applicable 

requirements. Our testing consisted of, but was not limited to, 

the following procedures: 

o Reviewed (1) the vacancy announcement type (i.e., 

delegated examining, merit promotion, direct hire, and 

excepted service), and (2) whether the position 

advertised was in the competitive service, excepted 

service, or senior executive service in order to identify 
Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 14

applicable requirements from Title 5 of the U.S. Code and 

Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations for compliance 

testing;

o Determined whether the vacancy announcements 

included all required items (e.g., agency name, 

announcement number, position title, grade and entrance 

pay, duty location, number of vacancies, and description 

of duties, among other requirements) for a job 

announcement, as required by OPM’s DEOH and DO’s 

Merit Promotion and Internal Placement Plan;

o Reviewed the vacancy announcement open periods to 

determine whether the vacancy announcements were 

open on USAJOBs for a minimum of five calendar days. 

Announcements opened for a lesser period were justified

as required by OPM’s DEOH; 

o Reviewed applicants’ ratings to identify the rating 

procedure (numerical or category) used to assess 

applicants for the development of the list of eligible 

candidates; 

o Reviewed the number of candidates listed in each 

certificate of eligibles for accuracy;

o Reviewed the certificate of eligibles to ensure the 

appropriate veterans’ preference symbol (CPS, CP, XP, 

TP) were displayed in the certificate, as required by 

OPM’s DEOH; 

o Reviewed the ranking of eligible candidates in the 

certificate of eligibles to determine whether eligibles were 

ranked based on their ratings and that veterans were 

listed ahead of non-preference eligibles within each 

quality category, as required by OPM’s DEOH;

o Reviewed the order in which the candidates were listed in 

the certificates of eligibles to determine whether they 

were listed in alphabetical order, as required by DO’s 

Merit Promotion and Internal Placement Plan; and

o Reviewed the selections of all candidates to ensure that 

pass over requests (the selection of a non-preference 

eligible over a preference eligible), as applicable, were 

approved by OPM or OFR, as appropriate.
Appendix 1: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 15

• We reviewed all 10 EEO complaints and 18 administrative 

grievances filed by OFR employees with OHR including the 

grievance decisions and EEO investigative reports.

• The steps performed to identify the vacancy announcements to 

which each of the complainants applied are described below:

o We searched the names of complainants in Career 

Connector to identify the vacancy announcements they 

had applied to up to six months prior to filing a complaint 

and all of the announcements they applied to subsequent 

to filing a complaint. We included announcements applied 

to up to six months prior to the filing of a complaint to 

ensure all of the applications that could have been the 

subject of the complaint were captured, because the 

hiring process usually extends beyond the 

announcement’s close date (e.g. creation of certificate of 

eligibles or selections made).

o We identified and reviewed 46 vacancy announcements 

to determine if the complainant made the certificate of 

eligibles. We eliminated vacancy announcements for 

which the complainants did not make the certificate of 

eligibles, reducing the number of announcements 

reviewed to 30.

• We reviewed supporting documentation and tested each of the 

30 vacancy announcements to identify potential violations of 

prohibited personnel practices. 

We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally 

accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require 

that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate 

evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the 

evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 16

Appendix 2: Management Response
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 17

Appendix 3: Major Contributors to This Report

Virginia Shirley, Auditor-In-Charge

Clyburn Perry III, Program Analyst

Eduardo Coney, Auditor

Gerald Kelly, Referencer 
The Office of Financial Research’s Hiring Practices Complied With Federal 

Requirements (OIG-20-033) 18

Appendix 4: Report Distribution 

Department of the Treasury

Secretary 

Deputy Secretary

Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Improvement

Office of the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Risk and Control 

Group

Office of Financial Research

Director 

Office of Management and Budget

OIG Budget Examiner
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