The agency is an independent organization, only responsible to Congress, working in a neutral spirit, and its main responsibility is to investigate how the federal government spends taxpayers' money.
After World War I, the financial management of the American government was in chaos. In order to reverse this situation, the Budget and Audit Law of the United States 192 1 decided to separate the audit affairs from the Ministry of Finance and hand them over to an independent institution, that is, the US General Accounting Office. The person in charge is the "Comptroller General". It is troublesome to get the appointment, but once you get the position, it will become an iron rice bowl, so you don't have to worry about offending people and losing their jobs. The list of candidates is proposed by an eight-member committee composed of members of both parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the President chooses one of them and submits it to the Senate for approval. Term of office 15. However, the president has the right to appoint, not to dismiss, and only Congress has the right to impeach the Auditor-General. The position of the Comptroller General is somewhat like that of the Supreme Court Justice, and it is quite independent. So far, no auditor-general has been impeached. Since the establishment of 192 1, there are only seven chief auditors in this department, which shows its stability.