Inspector General Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Inspectors general are found throughout bureaucratic and military apparatuses around the world. The main purpose of an inspector general is to ensure efficiency and compliance with standards of mission statements for bureaucracies or standards of military service. Inspectors general are often recognized for their expertise within their field and in many countries are high-ranking, well-educated bureaucrats. As the head of inspections and audits for the bureaucratic departments, inspectors general investigate fraud and misappropriations of funds, time, and equipment. They also work to protect whistle-blowers, government workers who bring attention to a serious problem within their agencies. In addition, offices of inspectors general evaluate and audit programs provided by the bureaucratic departments and provide recommendations to heads of state and other interested parties, such as legislatures.

Much of an inspector general’s work is in the capacity of finding wrongdoing rather than identifying good practices and making positive recommendations. Inspectors general perform many types of audits, including internal, external, financial, and performance audits. Internal audits focus on a bureaucracy or military agency, where inspectors examine the agency from within, while external audits are performed on contractors the agency has hired to perform a specific task. Financial audits focus on where the money has gone and whether the money allocated to certain projects has been properly spent, and performance audits look at the mission statement of an agency and evaluate whether the agency and its employees are performing up to standards. Although they work within agencies, inspectors attempt to remain impartial; however, objectivity sometimes comes into question when the motives of investigations and audits seem political. Opposing factions within government may request agency audits to search for wrongdoing that will allow them to reduce allocations to that agency.

Older conceptualizations of the inspector general were deeply rooted in the need for organization, efficiency, and compliance in police and military affairs. From these themes modern bureaucracies have taken these initiatives to create better government. More recently, a growing number of private agencies have begun offering inspection services to government and industry to ensure compliance with national and international laws.

Bibliography:

Anechiarico, Frank, and Ronald Goldstock. “Monitoring Integrity and Performance: An Assessment of the Independent Private Sector Inspector General.” Public Integrity 9, no. 2 (2007): 117–132.
Clark, Kathleen. “Toward More Ethical Government: An Inspector General for the White House.” Mercer Law Review 49 (1998): 553.
Light, Paul Charles. Monitoring Government: Inspectors General and the Search for Accountability. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1993.
Moore, Mark, and Margaret Gates. Inspectors General: Junkyard Dogs or Man’s Best Friend. New York: Russell Sage, 1986.

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