Summary

GAO reviewed the Department of Labor's second-year efforts to implement and comply with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA), which is aimed at strengthening management controls and accounting systems and helping to detect and deter fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in federal agencies.

GAO found that, at the end of 1984, uncorrected internal control weaknesses existed in Labor's Unemployment Insurance and Job Training Partnership Act programs, as well as its other programs and accounting systems. These deficiencies precluded a determination that Labor's: (1) systems of internal control, taken as a whole, complied with FMFIA requirements; and (2) accounting systems, taken as a whole, generally conformed to the Comptroller General's requirements. GAO believes that, in order to determine whether its internal control systems provide reasonable assurances, Labor needs to collectively consider the: (1) comprehensiveness and quality of the evaluation work performed; (2) significance of the weaknesses disclosed; (3) status of corrective actions; and (4) extent to which accounting systems conform to the Comptroller General's requirements. GAO also believes that Labor's annual FMFIA report should provide sufficient information to determine the significance of reported internal control weaknesses.