AN EFFECTIVE MATERIALS CONTROL AND ACCOUNTABILITY AUDIT PROGRAM

An audit can be an extremely useful tool to assist both the DOE auditors and the contractor in performing their respective jobs. All too often audits are viewed as an adversarial meeting where one side tries to hide what it is doing and/or the other side attempts to \"nail\" someone. This adversarial relationship is often caused by misunderstandings of the purpose and uses of the audit. We have presented a scheme that will lead to a more productive audit from the perspective of both sides. If a procedure similar to the one outlined in this paper is in place and observed by all parties to the audit, it will produce both a useful product and a meaningful evaluation of the degree to which the contractor is adhering to established and generally accepted policies and practices.