The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-09-10
What Iii Means
DETECTING
|CfIEATERS
OF U.S.A.
BY CLARKE BEACH

vi U.0.A.
BY CLARKE BEACH
AP Newsfeotures
WASHINGTON. - Anybody
w who gets money from the
government when he isn't en-
titled to it hos to buck the Cen
erul Accounting Office GAO.
It's the biggest accounting out
fit on earth. It has thousands of
ways of nasing out 1eakages Of
government funds, whether
through fraud or error.
Fifteen women, for instance,
have learned how GAO catches
up on marital wrong doors. Each
was married, or said she was, to
two servicemen at the same time
and drew wives allotments from
both mems pay.
Trapped BY First Names
But they didn't know that GAO
has a file of paid allotment
checks arranged by first names.
GAO figures that when a woman
commits bigamy or adopts a
false surname she is likely to re-
tain her true first name. If in
the Mary" file the endorsements
of two checks looks alike, the
cases are checked sometimes
with surprising results.
Every voucher paid by a dis
bursting officer of the government
is reviewed by GAGS Audit Di-
vision. In the fiscal year which
ended this July, 100000 vouch-
ers were checked.
GAO filed exceptions to 417,-
900 of the vouchers resulting in
the governments receiving re-
funds of $43, 100000. The discrep-
ancies are usually the result of
error and not. fraud, says E. w.
Bell, chief of the division.
5000 Busy Checking
Bell has 5000 bookkeeping
sleuths in his division, some of
them at his headquarters in
Washington and some at ESQ field
stations.
Largest field offices are in
Cleveland, where 500 account
ants and lawyers check on pay
ments made under Navy con-
tracts; and in st. Louis. where
600 more keep tab on Army
transactions.
Most of the work of Bells di-
vision is simply checking vouch-
ers to see whether they comply
with the law and with. the con-
tracts involved. The division may
make a complete audit, howev-
er,. when directed by Congress,
as it often is, or in the case of
cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts.
Still Wider Scope
1t also can make an audit of
termination settlement" the
contracts which the government
terminated at the end of the war
before performance had been
completed.
Another GAO unit, the Cor
poration Audit Division, headed
by T. Coleman Andrews, makes
commercial audits of all wholly
owned government corporations,
now numbering about 50.
1t has submitted to Congress
audits on Federal Prison Indus
tries, Inc, the Virgin Islands
Company, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp; Tennessee Val
ley Associated Cooperatives, Inc,
and the u. S. Spruce Production
Corp.
Fur Begins TO Fly
1t has begun the audit OF all
the other government corpora
tions, including the Tennessee
Valley Authority and the Recon
construction Finance Corporation
which Andrews says is the larg-
est corporation in the world.
Andrews, who was a Marine
Corps reserve major on duty In
Kwajalein when called to his
present post in the spring of
l945, has secured colleges and
accounting firms to assemble 2O5
highly qualified accountants for
his division. He intends to have
300 when fully stated.
He has reported lax account
ing practices in some OF the
richest agencies in the govern
ment, causing acrid controversy
on Capitol Hill and Down
town" in government offices.
Some of his heutenants say that
the Juror his reports have Gre
ated so far is nothing compared
to what is coming from his di-
vision eventually.