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Commerce Administrative
Management System (CAMS) Program Management Plan
(PMP)
7 Legislative and Regulatory Requirements
Applicable legislative and regulatory requirements drive requirements for
all CAMS/CFS modules. The following summarizes applicable legislative and
policy
requirements:
7.1 Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982 (FMFIA)
The Integrity Act encompasses accounting, financial management, operational,
and administrative areas and establishes specific requirements for management
controls in Federal agencies. Agency leaders must establish controls that
responsibly ensure that:
- Obligations and costs comply with applicable law.
- Funds, Property, and other Assets are safeguarded against waste, loss, unauthorized
use, or misappropriation.
- Revenues and expenditures are properly recorded and accounted in accordance
with the law.
- Annual evaluations and reports on the control of financial systems that protect
the integrity of Federal programs are completed.
7.2
The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (CFO Act)
Congress mandated financial management reform by enacting the CFO Act. This
far-reaching financial management improvement Act lays a foundation for comprehensive
reform of federal financial management. Under the Act, an agency CFO’s
responsibility will extend to every aspect of financial management related
to operating agency programs. For this reason, the CFO is the key decision
maker in “agency wide and agency component accounting, financial and
asset management systems.” The CFO Act establishes a leadership structure,
provides for long-range planning, requires audited financial statements, and
strengthens accountability reporting. Agencies are required to develop financial
management plans and produce an annual progress report. OMB subsequently produces
a Government-wide financial management status report and a five-year plan.
Principle provisions of the Act include:
- Bring more effective general and financial management practices to
the Federal Government and designate a CFO in each executive department and
in each major
executive agency in the Federal Government.
- Provide for improvement, in each agency of the Federal Government, of systems
of accounting, financial management, and internal controls to assure the issuance
of reliable financial information and to deter fraud, waste, and abuse of Government
resources.
- Provide for the production of complete, reliable, timely, and consistent financial
information for use by the executive branch of the Government and the Congress
in the financing, management, and evaluation of Federal programs.
Specific CFO responsibilities include:
- Development and maintenance of an integrated agency accounting and financial
management system that provides complete, reliable, consistent, and timely
information that is prepared on a uniform basis and is responsive to the
financial information needs of agency management.
- Development and reporting of cost information.
- Integration of accounting and budgeting information.
- Systematic performance measurement.
7.3
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)
The Results Act is intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
federal programs by establishing a system to set goals for program performance
and to measure results.
Principle provisions of the Act include requiring Agencies to:
- Prepare multiyear strategic plans that cover a period of at least 5 years
and include the agency’s mission statement; identify the agency’s
long-term strategic goals; and describe how the agency intends to achieve
those goals
through its activities.
Develop an annual performance plan, which provides
a direct linkage between the strategic goals outlined
in the agency’s strategic plan and what
the daily accomplishments of managers and employees.
- Submit an annual performance report which compares an agency’s performance
against its stated goals, summarizes the findings of p
rogram evaluations
completed during the year, and describes the actions needed to address
any unmet goals.
7.4 The Government Management Reform Act of 1994 (GMRA)
The Reform Act requires agencies to prepare financial statements to reflect
the results of agency operations and, beginning with FY 1997, to submit
a government-wide financial statement that includes results of government-wide
operations.
Principle provisions of the Act include requiring Agencies to:
- Improve planning and management of Federal programs.
- Increase accountability and conduct better assessment of results.
- Improve communication between Congress and the public.
- Provide better information for Congressional and agency decisions.
- Increase public confidence in the Federal Government.
7.5 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)
FFMIA provides consistency of accounting by an agency from one fiscal year
to the next and establishes uniform accounting standards throughout the
Federal Government. FFMIA builds upon and complements the Chief Financial
Officers
Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-576; 104 Stat 2838), the Government Performance
and Results Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-62 107 Stat. 285) and the Government
Management Reform Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-356; 108 Stat. 3410); and
increases the capability of agencies to monitor execution of the budget
by more readily
permitting reports that compare spending of resources to results of activities.
Principle provisions of the Act include:
-
Requiring each agency to implement and maintain financial management systems
that comply substantially with Federal financial management systems requirements
(JFMIP requirements), applicable Federal accounting standards, and the United
States Government Standard General Ledger at the transaction level.
- Requiring Federal financial management systems to support full disclosure of
Federal financial data, including the full costs of Federal programs and
activities, to the citizens, the Congress, the President, and agency management
so that
programs and activities can be evaluated based on their full costs and merits.
- Increasing the accountability and credibility of Federal Government financial
management.
- Improving the performance, productivity and efficiency of Federal Government
financial management.
- Establishing financial management systems to support controlling the cost of
the Federal Government.
7.6
Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-127 “Financial
Management Systems”
The Circular sets forth general policies for Federal Government financial
management systems. Each agency is required to develop and maintain a single,
integrated
financial management system.
Principle provisions of the Circular include requiring agencies to:
-
Have an ongoing financial systems improvement planning process and periodic
reviews of financial system capabilities.
- Maintain financial management systems that comply with the requirements
of the Federal Government Accounting Standards established by the Federal
Accounting
Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) in its Statements of Federal Financial
Accounting Standards (SFFAS) and with the requirements of OMB’s Form
and Content of Agency Financial Statements.
7.7 Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP)
JFMIP is a joint undertaking of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the
General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and
the Office
of Personnel Management (OPM), working in cooperation with each other and
other agencies to improve financial management practices across the Federal
Government.
Principle provisions of the Program include:
- Promoting strategies and guiding financial management improvement across
Government, promoting reviews and coordinating central agencies’ activities
and policy promulgations, and acting as a catalyst and clearinghouse for
sharing and disseminating
information about ideal financial management practices.
- Setting forth the system requirements for common systems that have been prepared
under JFMIP direction as a series of publications entitled Federal Financial
Management System Requirements (FFMSR). The FFMIA statute codified the FFMSR
as key benchmarks that agency systems must meet to be in compliance with
system requirements provisions under FFMIA. The Core Financial System Requirements
document has been prepared as a continuation of the FFMSR series that began
with the first Core Financial Systems (CFS) Requirements document published
in January 1988. The latest version of the CFS requirements can be found
on
the JFMIP website (http://www.jfmip.gov/).
7.8 Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA)
This act addresses the program management, implementation, and evaluation
aspects of information security. It is an amendment to the Government Paperwork
Reduction
Act of 1995 and reinforces computer security policies set forth in the
Computer Security Act of 1987 and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. It is
due to expire
in November 2002. Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) has introduced a bill to reauthorize
it as a permanent law that sets mandatory security standards.
Principle provisions of the Act include Requiring Agencies to:
-
Assess the security of classified and non-classified information systems.
- Provide a risk assessment and security needs with each budget request.
- Transmit to OMB copies of the annual agency program reviews, independent
evaluations, a brief executive summary and, for national security systems,
audits of the
independent evaluations.
7.9
M-03-01 – OMB
Memorandum on Business Rules for Intragovernmental
Transactions
OMB issued a memo dated October 4, 2002 on new business rules and data
elements for Intragovernmental Transactions. These rules and data elements
are a key step in resolving deficiencies in the proper accounting and consistent
recording of intergovernmental transactions, which will assist in achieving
the goal of a clean opinion on the U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements.
There are two sets of standard business rules that will be implemented
on January 1, 2003 or October 1, 2003:
- The first rule, which will take effect on January 31, 2003 is that all
federal agencies must register their DUNS numbers in the Central Contractor
Registration (CCR) database, which is owned by the Department of Defense.
- The remaining rules create a new business process and system of processing
Intragovernmental Transactions, effective on October 1, 2003.
More detailed information can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m03-01.html
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