In general, lobbyists audited by the Government Accountability Office could provide some documentation for their reports of lobbying activity and political contributions, but many lobbyists had a hard time backing up their filings, according to the GAO. 

In a report released April 1, the GAO found that after a random audit, lobbyists had to make amendments to a dozen filings under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. The GAO said it reviewed a random sample of 100 lobbyist disclosure reports filed during the first three quarters of calendar year 2008 and also selected a random sample of 100 reports of federal political contributions filed in the middle of 2008.

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 called on the GAO to conduct the report.

While there are no specific requirements for lobbyists to create or maintain documentation related to disclosure reports they file, the GAO found that lobbyists generally could provide some documentation supporting items in their disclosure reports.

For example, 99 percent of those examined could provide written records of their income and expenses. However, in about 14 percent of cases, the documentation was either incomplete or contradicted the reported amount of income or expense, the GAO found.

The GAO also reviewed reports of who served as a lobbyist for a particular client, what government entity was lobbied and whether a lobbyist had a previous position in the government. The GAO found documented support for all items in only about 35 percent of lobbying disclosure reports.

For political contribution reports, filed by lobbyists for the first time in 2008 under HLOGA's provisions, the GAO estimated that 65 percent of the reports could be supported by FEC data or documentation provided by lobbyists. About 16 percent of the reports had erroneous entries or failed to disclose required contributions, the GAO found. 

Read the full report at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09487.pdf