One area that many government investigative offices evaluate is their agency’s use of technology. In some cases, old technology slows the agency down, because it crashes or isn’t compatible with new software. In some cases, agency technology is difficult to support because the hardware or software is antiquated, and it’s difficult to find suppliers or…
Category Archives: Resource
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Cybersecurity: 3 Fundamental Practices to Protect Your Agency
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The Limits of a Lagging Indicator
One thing economists look at to determine economic strength is the unemployment rate. It’s an excellent indicator of economic strength – when unemployment is high, it’s very difficult for the wider economy to overcome that fact and still deliver growth. Unfortunately, it’s a lagging indicator of economic strength. It doesn’t predict where the economy is…
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The Growing Risk of Cybersecurity Threats
While high-profile fraud prosecutions and abuse of power allegations provide investigative offices with news headlines and public awareness, they only represent a fraction of the work IG offices do. Inspectors General offices in particular are often charged with identifying unacceptable levels of risk within agencies and providing recommendations on how to close those gaps. Federal…
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Tell Agency Employees: Don’t Be an Accomplice!
The best way to solicit tips is to build a culture that values integrity and employee contribution – a place where employees feel that an unethical person wouldn’t be accepted, and employees would be expected to report bad behavior to the appropriate resource for investigation. Even in agencies with a great overall culture, however, not…
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Five Components of an Effective Performance Review
Performance reviews can be time consuming and stressful, but they shouldn’t be useless. If a performance review has these five components, it is more likely to produce positive results.
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The Fraud Diamond and the Principle of Least Privilege
Every day, hundreds of people commit fraud. Despite this fact, most people will never commit fraud in their lifetimes. One of the most important aspects of preventing fraud is separating the few who would commit fraud from the many who wouldn’t. One way to do this is the fraud triangle, which was discussed in a…
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How Recruiting Challenges Increase Fraud, Waste and Abuse in Government
The recruiting challenge faced by government agencies is a tremendous one. A March study by the National Association of State Chief Administrators found that government job posting rose 11% from 2013 to 2017, while the number of people applying for state jobs declined by 25%. There are plenty of reasons; it is difficult to attract…
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Why Employee Onboarding Matters
For many employees, onboarding is the last step before they can begin their job. It’s a deluge of paperwork, federally mandated workplace notifications, and agency-wide directives. Sometimes, training videos are also required. Once this process is completed, new employees can finally begin their job, meet their team, and learn about the reality of the job…
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Critical Capabilities: Leadership
Investigative teams such as Inspectors General offices, ombudsmen and ethics groups routinely produce excellent results. That’s due in part to the dedication and persistence of the investigative staff on these teams. Exceptional results, however, also require great leadership. This is especially true when investigative teams are under fire due to a politically sensitive investigation. These…
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Are Your Agency’s Workers Just Showing Up for a Paycheck?
Inspectors General and other oversight offices spend far more time tracking fraud, waste and abuse than they do thinking about employee performance or motivation. If you’re looking for predictors of future fraud, however, you could do worse than considering what motivates your agency’s employees to go to work each day. Several years ago, workplace research…
