**GAO-08-632**                      Published: May 15, 2008. Publicly Released: May 15, 2008.                  

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## Highlights

The Smithsonian Institution's governing body, the Board of Regents (Board), has developed a set of actions to address governance and accountability breakdowns that came to light in 2007. These actions were aimed at problems in three main areas: (1) executive compensation, benefits, ethics, and operational policies and controls; (2) flow of information to the Board, transparency of Board operations, and relationship with stakeholders; and (3) the Board's responsibilities, structure, and performance. GAO was asked to assess the extent of the Board's progress in each of these areas. GAO obtained information and data from the Board's regents, Smithsonian executives, and other stakeholders and also analyzed other organizations whose boards had faced similar governance challenges.

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## Topics

Government Operations

Access controlAccountabilityEmployee benefit plansEmployee trainingExecutive compensationHuman capital policiesInformation accessInformation disclosureInformation managementInternal controlsPerformance appraisalPerformance measuresPolicy evaluationProcurement policyProfessional ethicsStaff utilizationStrategic planningTraining utilizationBoard of directorsPolicies and procedures