OIG Audit Results - Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board

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· Alleged Unauthorized Use of the Beef Checkoff Logo A beef industry organization alleged that the editor of a beef industry trade journal improperly used the beef checkoff program logo in an editorial commentary on a proposed policy rule. The organization also alleged that NCBA’s influence contributed to the editor’s use of the logo. The cattle association president that submitted the article told OIG that the submission he sent to the journal did not contain the checkoff logo. Our interview with the publisher of the trade journal disclosed that the cattle association did not include the checkoff program logo. Also, the editor (who is no longer with the publication) had unknowingly used the logo in the editorial without permission or knowledge of the cattle association or the beef board. The article was removed from the website. We concluded that neither the cattle association nor the trade journal intentionally misused the checkoff program logo. AUDIT REPORT 01099-0001-21 13
Exhibit B: Sample Design and Results for Audit of Beef Research and Promotion Board Activities Objective The audit objective was to determine if AMS oversight procedures were adequate to ensure that beef checkoff assessments were collected, distributed, and expended in accordance with the Beef Research and Information Act and the Beef Promotion and Research Order. In order to verify that beef board expenditures were properly used, we developed a sampling methodology. We designed the sample to provide projected error rates associated with journal entries in the beef board and its contractors’ accounting databases. Where a journal entry consisted of multiple transactions, we reviewed all transactions. We used a stratified sample of journal entries; each journal entry was a cluster of multiple transactions. All transactions within a selected journal entry were examined. Audit Universe The audit universe comprised a variety of databases pertaining to beef board expenditures for fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010. We determined the set of databases to test; therefore, the audit universe is limited to that set of databases. In addition, we excluded records with low dollar amounts from consideration. Projections, therefore, apply only to the records that had a possibility of being selected: a total of 3,291 records that included 980 transactions. The universe list was extracted from the beef board and the following beef board contractors: NCBA, U.S. Meat Export Federation, and the American National Cattle Women. Sample Design and Modifications The composite sample design included eight strata, using records from six databases: · Three strata came from the NCBA travel file, with a minimum record value of $300 and stratification at $10,000 and at $100,000. · Two strata came from the beef board Admin/ProdCom/ProgEval file, with a minimum record value $10,000 and stratification at $100,000. · Three additional strata came from three separate databases: o Korea o Japan o NCBA Non Travel (Other 10) Sample sizes within each stratum were chosen to provide a composite upper error limit of about 10 percent, if no exceptions were found, for a 5 percent risk of over-reliance. An individual assessment of the files would also generally satisfy these same conditions. The resulting composite sample contained 980 records selected for review. 14 AUDIT REPORT 01099-0001-21
Page 1 and 2: United States Department of Agricul
Page 4: United States Department of Agricul
Page 8 and 9: Background and Objectives Backgroun
Page 10 and 11: AMS’ Oversight of Commodity Board
Page 12 and 13: Section 1: AMS Should Strengthen Ov
Page 14 and 15: are compliant before the board auth
Page 16 and 17: Scope and Methodology We performed
Page 18 and 19: Abbreviations Act…………. Beef
Page 22 and 23: The resulting sample design is indi
Page 24: Agency’s Response USDA'S AMS’ R
Page 27 and 28: AMS Response to Office of Inspector
Page 29: To learn more about OIG, visit our

OIG Audit Results - Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board

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