Suchergebnisse

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers has been a long-standing challenge to most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL). FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The foundation laid by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and other management reform legislation provided a much needed statutory basis to improve the accountability of government programs and operations. Such reforms were intended to produce reliable, timely, and useful financial information to help manage day-to- day operations and exercise oversight and promote fiscal stewardship. This testimony, based on GAO's prior work, addresses (1) the progress made and challenges remaining to improve federal financial management practices, and (2) the serious challenges posed by the government's deteriorating long-range fiscal condition and the Comptroller General's views on a possible way forward."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) financial management reform, focusing on the challenges and initiatives that are in place or planned."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In June 2000, the House Committee on Science identified a significant discrepancy between an amount reported in the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's (NASA) audited financial statements for fiscal year 1999 and its submission in the President's Budget for fiscal year 2001. NASA's 1999 financial statement was misstated by a reported $644 million. The misstatement was in the "Recoveries of Prior Year Obligations" line of the statement. NASA had relied on an ad hoc process that included a data call from the reporting units' (nine centers and headquarters) separate systems and a compilation of reported amounts using a spreadsheet. In addition, when compiling these data, NASA headquarters mistakenly added amounts that were not relevant to the recoveries line. Headquarters officials said that the error resulted from their misinterpretation of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on what to include in the recoveries line. NASA is now acquiring and implementing a single, commercial off-the-shelf core accounting system that it believes will solve the problem. In its audit of NASA's financial statements for fiscal year 1999, Arthur Andersen did not detect the error in NASA's Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR). Evidence in Arthur Andersen's working papers was not adequate to support unqualified opinions on NASA's SBR and Statement of Financing in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS). Arthur Andersen's working papers did not adequately document the evaluation of the internal controls related to the two budgetary statements or the independent validation of key amounts in the statements for fiscal year 1999. The NASA Inspector General (IG) did a quality control review of the audit by Arthur Andersen using a detailed checklist based on GAGAS. According to the checklist, the objectives of the NASA IG quality control review were to (1) ensure that the independent public accountant conducted the audit in accordance with applicable auditing standards and OMB bulletin requirements, (2) identify any follow-up work that needs to be done by the independent public accountant, and (3) identify issues that may require management attention."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress is considering expanding the number of federal agencies required to prepare audited financial statements to include all executive branch agencies that have budget authority of $25 million or more. The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 builds on the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act by encouraging agencies to have systems that generate timely, accurate, and useful information with which to make informed decisions on an ongoing basis. The 26 non-CFO Act agencies that GAO surveyed reported that they anticipate significant benefits from audited financial statements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO tested the effectiveness of general and application controls that support the Army Corps of Engineers' key financial system. This system processes military engineering, construction, and real estate projects and civil works projects involving the investigation, development, and maintenance of the nation's waters and related environmental resources. GAO found pervasive weaknesses in computer controls at the Corps' data processing centers. Other Corps sites revealed serious vulnerabilities that would allow both hackers and legitimate users with valid access privileges to improperly modify, inappropriately disclose, or destroy sensitive and financial data, including social security numbers and other personal information. These weaknesses undermine the Corps' ability to ensure the confidentiality and availability of data in the financial system."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world, the Department of Defense (DOD) faces many challenges in resolving serious problems in its financial management and related business operations and systems. DOD is required by various statutes to (1) improve its financial management processes, controls, and systems to ensure that complete, reliable, consistent, and timely information is prepared and responsive to the financial information needs of agency management and oversight bodies, and (2) produce audited financial statements. Over the years, DOD has initiated numerous efforts to improve the department's financial management operations and achieve an unqualified (clean) opinion on the reliability of its reported financial information. These efforts have fallen short of sustained improvement in financial management or financial statement auditability. The Subcommittee has asked GAO to provide its perspective on the status of DOD's financial management weaknesses and its efforts to resolve them; the challenges DOD continues to face in improving its financial management and operations; and the status of its efforts to implement automated business systems as a critical element of DOD's Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness strategy."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed financial management issues at the Department of Defense (DOD)."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Homeland Security Act of 2002 brought together 22 agencies to create a new cabinet-level department focusing on reducing U.S. vulnerability to terrorist attacks, and minimizing damages and assisting in recovery from attacks that do occur. GAO has previously reported on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) financial management challenges and key elements necessary for reform. DHS continues to be faced with significant financial management challenges, including addressing existing internal control weaknesses and integrating redundant inherited financial management systems. Additionally, DHS is the largest entity in the federal government that is not subject to the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 or the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) of 1996. In light of these conditions, Congress asked GAO to testify on the financial management challenges facing DHS."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the financial management of the Census Monitoring Board (CMB), focusing on: (1) information on seven specific matters contained in congressional requests; (2) an audit relating to all CMB out-of-town travel disbursements and all other financial transactions over $200 from CMB's inception in June 1998 through March 31, 2000, which resulted in GAO auditing about 98 percent of the dollar value of total CMB disbursements; (3) CMB financial policies and practices, the internal control environments, and specific internal controls over disbursements, including those related to travel, personnel, and procurement of services; and (4) related-party transactions that met the criteria congressional members asked GAO to use."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As the steward of taxpayer dollars, the federal government is accountable for how its agencies and grantees spend funds. It is also responsible for safeguardingagainst improper payments, which include payments that should not have been madeor were made for incorrect amounts irrespective of whether the agency had effective controls in place. Reported estimates of improper payments total billions ofdollars annually. With billions of dollars at risk, agencies need to vigilantly safeguard those resources entrusted to them and assign a high priority to reducing fraud, waste, and abuse. In their fiscal year 1999 financial statement, 12federal agencies reported improper payments totalling $20.7 billion. A first step for some agencies will be to assess programs at risk and develope ways to identify, estimate, and report the nature and extent of improper payments annually. Without this fundamental knowledge, agencies will not be fully informed about the magnitude, trends, and types of payment errors occurring within their programs. Furthermore, most agencies will not be able to make informed cost-benefit decisions about strengthening their internal controls to minimize future improper payments or effectively develop goals and strategies to reduce them. In GAO's view, agencies need to consult with congressional oversight committees to develop goals and strategies to overcom this multibillion dollar problem."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2003, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began operations, it has faced the difficult challenge of bringing together 22 diverse agencies and developing an integrated financial management system to provide reliable, timely, and useful financial information. GAO's 2007 report, Homeland Security: Departmentwide Integrated Financial Management Systems Remain a Challenge, GAO-07-536, emphasized the key issues related to DHS attempting to transform its financial management systems. For today's hearing, this testimony, based on GAO's recent report, (1) summarizes DHS's financial system transformation efforts, (2) points out key financial system transformation challenges at DHS, and (3) highlights the building blocks that DHS should consider to form the foundation for successful financial management system transformation efforts."

ABSTRACTNew holistic approaches to environmental management by local authorities are described. Two kinds of audit, the state of the environment report and the internal audit, are defined. State of the environment reports are assessments of the condition of the local environment, generally based on existing data. They provide information about the environment to the general public and enable councils to determine environmental strategy priorities. They are giving local authorities a new environmental stewardship function. An internal audit is an assessment not only of the authority's impacts as a producer but of its environmental interactions as a regulator, influencer and manager of the environment. For some councils, auditing is becoming a continuous process through which environmental factors can be taken into account as a routine part of policy making and implementation.Both kinds of audit are changing the relationships of local authorities, reducing internal departmentalism and leading to wider consultation and partnership with local communities.