Fort Belvoir, Va. –
DCAA’s Integrity and Quality Assurance Directorate hosted a virtual 4-day workshop to increase the knowledge and skills of the Agency’s Field Audit Office Assistants for Quality (FAQ). The training covered the five areas of DCAA’s Quality Goal Initiative. In addition, DCAA’s Policy Directorate covered the Agency guidance on Materiality in Incurred Cost Audits. This annual workshop is essential to ensure quality standards are understood and effectively communicated across the Agency.
Attendees were divided into groups and the presenters rotated among virtual classrooms. The last day of the conference attendees met in their respective organizational groups and developed an action plan tailored to their organization’s specific improvement needs. Attendees also shared ideas for effective training at their office such as weekly tip emails, targeted small group training, and using the real life examples, including what right looks like, as discussed in the workshop. The feedback on the conference was positive with several attendees commenting “I was very surprised at how effective the virtual training was!”
Mr. Chuck Benson, Assistant Director, Integrity and Quality Assurance (Q), emphasized the important role of the FAQ stating that "FAQs not only ensure audits comply with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards and Agency policies and procedures in their pre-issuance quality reviews of audits, but also offer viable solutions to the office management team to specifically address the root causes of these systemic issues." Furthermore, the DCAA Deputy Director, Mr. Joe Bentz, spoke to the group and expressed his appreciation to the FAQs, since they are the "eyes and ears in the field" and are a "force multiplier" in driving needed change, improving the quality of our audits.