Michael R. Esser was appointed Assistant Inspector General for Audits and to the Senior Executive Service in April 2006. Mr. Esser is responsible for overseeing the Office of the Inspector General’s Office of Audits in conducting audits of all programs administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the largest of which are the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), and the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System. His office also conducts audits of the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program; Federal Employees Dental and Vision Program; Flexible Spending Account Program; Federal Long Term Care Program; and the agency's information systems, as well as information systems of the health carriers participating in the FEHBP.
Mr. Esser joined the Office of the Inspector General in February 1991 as an auditor, working primarily on the audits of the agency's consolidated financial statements. Prior to coming to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Mr. Esser spent one year with a Northern Virginia CPA firm, and five years with a mortgage corporation in Fairfax, Virginia, the last three years of which was as Controller.
He attended George Mason University, playing baseball and graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, and going on to earn a Masters in Business Administration in 1986. He is a CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.