Summary

GAO reviewed the progress being made by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), and the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in reducing the accounting and financial reporting burden on industries that they regulate. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 was enacted to improve the way the Federal Government collects, uses, and disseminates information. Among other significant provisions, the new law gives the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) authority to review and clear all independent regulatory agency reporting and recordkeeping requirements and requests.

Some independent regulatory agencies are collecting information that they neither need nor use. Such unneeded information is being collected because most agencies have no effective reports clearance process to screen requests for data. The reports clearance process, which was intended to be a screening device to preclude the collection of unneeded information, has not worked well in most of the agencies GAO reviewed. Despite legislation which limits Federal agengies' information collection to that which is necessary for the proper performance of their functions, some agencies collect information for private parties even when the information is not needed for Federal Government purposes. Regulatory agencies realize that small companies have less impact than large companies on their industries and that the burden of complying with accounting and financial reporting is relatively more difficult for smaller companies. This has led these agencies to establish graduated reporting requirements, but the benefits of graduated reporting are not being fully realized because the agencies have not adequately addressed the effects of inflation on reporting requirements. Agencies require regulated companies to retain certain records for specified periods of time because the records contain evidence of financial and legal commitments. GAO found that agencies are requiring companies to retain records for periods longer than necessary because retention requirements are: (1) not based on agency needs; (2) outdated; and (3) vague about which records are to be retained and for how long.