IRS Modernization: IRS Should Enhance Its Performance Management System

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made progress in revamping its performance management system. The goals, objectives, and measures that IRS has developed, along with its new strategic planning and budgeting process, are intended to integrate results-oriented management into IRS' daily decision-making. However, as IRS officials acknowledge, extensively revamping a performance management system is a complex task that takes years to complete. GAO identified several opportunities to enhance IRS' performance management system, including clarifying goals and objectives, improving the linkages between measures, objectives, and goals, and developing fewer but more specific action items. Such enhancements could increase managerial accountability and create stronger incentives for frontline employees to achieve IRS' goals and objectives.