Mr. Etchart, the agency's spokesman, said that the number of full-scale audits had declined slightly over the past few years and that the budget for compliance had fallen.
While futures firms must track their customer money daily, most are required to share their reports with regulators only monthly, and the firms are subject to full-scale audits just once a year.
It has co-operated with three full-scale audits performed by the General Accounting Office, which reports to Congress; it has dispatched staff members to testify at four congressional hearings; it has sent others, on 22 occasions, to hold formal briefings for congressmen.
Still, the review was just a snapshot, falling short of a full-scale audit.
Martin Robins, a former deputy executive director of New Jersey Transit, said Mr. Murphy may have erred in insisting on a full-scale audit of the agency so quickly.
Unlike Mrs. Clinton, or to a lesser extent Mr. Edwards, Mr. Obama has not gone through a full-scale audit that will now come from Republicans, Democrats, journalists and advocacy groups, eager to define him before he defines himself.
Today's request, made in a letter to David Walker, comptroller general of the accounting office, did not mention specific accusations of fraud or abuse, and stopped short of requesting a full-scale audit.
Residents are also awaiting the results of a full-scale audit by the state comptroller's office, which put Lawrence on a list of four Long Island districts warranting special attention after last year's corruption scandal in Roslyn.
The approach in Brooklyn — to conduct a kind of full-scale audit because irregular practices came to light — is one that has long been advocated by criminal justice reformers.
Under new management in 2012, the bank's board authorized a full-scale audit and uncovered loans of 113 million euros made to three offshore investment vehicles controlled by Mr. Sallas and his son George and daughter Myrto.
Apple joined the FLA in January and asked the group to conduct a full-scale audit of its Chinese manufacturing.
