Summary: GAO evaluated management effectiveness at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with the intention of identifying and analyzing management problems. GAO focused on management's performance in: (1) organizing and directing HUD; (2) planning activities and determining resource allocations; (3) executing program delivery; and (4) providing management control.
GAO found that HUD has many complex and long-standing problems and needs to: (1) improve organizational stability; (2) increase emphasis on, and accountability for, general management functions; and (3) establish continuity in HUD top management. GAO believes that HUD reliance on the budget process to direct and control HUD activity has not been an effective substitute for needed management systems. Weaknesses in the analytical base used to support the HUD budget and to monitor and analyze program activity have hampered analysis and oversight by Congress and others. Consistent problems have affected program delivery, and HUD has not fully addressed the causes of financial management problems, including inadequacies in long-range planning and the absence of a chief financial officer. In addition, HUD management information systems did not provide timely and accurate data, which were necessary to establish control over HUD programs. GAO also found that accounting systems were not adequately automated and many automated accounting systems were obsolete.
