Summary

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of the Treasury's cash and debt management functions.

GAO noted that: (1) the Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary's Office of Cash and Debt Management (OCDM) and the Financial Management Service's Funds Control Branch (FCB) have not fully developed formal written policies and procedures for forecasting and tracking cash flows and monitoring federal debt relative to statutory debt ceiling limits; (2) because of the magnitude of federal receipts, outlays, and debt financing and the complexity involved in forecasting their impact on federal cash flows, Treasury's processes, systems and transaction flows in the cash and debt management areas should be sufficiently documented; (3) OCDM operates with a small, highly experienced staff and has experienced low staff turnover over the years, creating what appears to be a relatively stable work environment; (4) however, if staff should leave unexpectedly, the inadequate documentation of the OCDM's processes could expose the cash and debt management functions to inherent operational risks that could affect the fiscal activities the office is charged with achieving; and (5) while FCB's exposure to operational risks would not likely be as great as OCDM's, documenting FCB's processes is also important.