Peer Review
The Association of Inspectors General (AIG) encourages professional development; standardizing practices, policies, and ethics; and establishing professional qualifications, and certifications of Offices of Inspectors General (OIG). A cornerstone is encouraging OIGs to adopt and comply with one or more of the following Standards:
- The Association of Inspectors General, Principles and Standards for Offices of Inspector General (Green Book)
- The Institute of Internal Auditors, International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Red Book) and/or
- The United States Government Accountability Office, Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book)
AIG’s peer review program is intended to help AIG member organizations in their efforts to comply with statutes, local ordinances, charters, etc. requiring OIGs to follow one or more of the aforementioned standards.
Objective
The Standards require OIGs to have external peer reviews to assess if their internal quality control system is suitably designed and operating effectively. The Yellow Book requires an external peer review at least once every three years, the Red Book once every five years, and the Green Book recommends periodic external reviews. The Peer review provides assurance that an OIG is following its established policies and procedures and applicable standards.
Process
Upon request for a peer review, there are three major phases:
Planning/Preparation
Selection of peer review team members, identifying agency liaison, scheduling of activities, and requests for documentation such as:
- Organizational Chart
- Investigative/Audit/ Inspections & Evaluations Polices & Procedures
- OIG Annual Report
- OIG Annual Work/Audit Plan
- OIG Public Reports Issued
- The names and contact information of any outside stakeholders (interviews)
Peer review team members analyze the documents in preparation for the site visits.
Site-Visit
On the first day, the peer review team begins with an entrance conference with the Inspector General and the senior management team. In order to evaluate compliance with standards, the site visit will include internal and external interviews, and reviews of training files, staff qualifications, operational procedures reports, and associated work papers. On the last day, an exit conference is conducted with the Inspector General and senior management to discuss the peer review team’s conclusions, positive comments and areas for consideration. Depending on the size of the OIG and which disciplines (audit, investigations, and inspections/evaluation) are under review the site visit may last from 3-5 days.
Reporting
Within 30 days a Compliance Letter is provided to the Inspector General stating the peer review team’s professional opinion on whether the OIG operations comply with the agreed upon standards, a summary of exceptions (if any) and purpose, scope and method of the review. At the discretion of the peer review team leader, a Management Letter may be written noting commendable areas and detailing the identified deficiencies and areas for consideration. The Management Letter is provided as a tool for the Inspector General and the management team detailing observations by the peer review team.
Who Can Request a Peer Review?
In order to participate in the AIG Peer Review Program, an OIG must:
- Be a member of the AIG,
- Follow the Association of Inspectors General Principles and Standards for Offices of Inspector General (Green Book),
- Provide staff to conduct similar peer reviews for other AIG member agencies,
- Be responsible for all reasonable costs incurred by the peer review team members related to the review, which includes airfare and/or mileage for travel, hotel, and per-diem rates (based on the policies and procedures of the agency under review).
Request a AIG Peer Review
The following is a sample Agency Request for an AIG Peer Review
OIG to AIG Peer Review Request Memo
Interested In Joining the AIG Peer Review Team?
If you have a strong, working knowledge of the applicable Standards and/or have peer review experience, please contact us at prchair@