ABSTRACT
A general distrust of government and the way it spends the taxpayers’ money is no more novel in American life than is the distaste for taxes. Discontent and frustration about public spending have ebbed and flowed throughout the course of our history. Whatever the source, the products have been renewed demands for more frugality and efficiency in public spending and the holding of governmental institutions and officials more accountable for their actions. Most of its reports are available to the public at small cost, and some are picked up by the media and given wide circulation. Yet works about the General Accounting Office itself as an institution of American government have been relatively rare and have not enjoyed a wide readership; much of what has been written about it is out of date, often based upon a book written forty years ago, or is simply mistaken. This chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
