Duties & Functions

Financial Management Service

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The Financial Management Service (FMS) is the Federal Government's financial manager. It receives and disburses all public monies, maintains government accounts, prepares daily and monthly reports on the status of government finances, and oversees a daily cash flow of $50 billion. FMS supports other Federal agencies by serving as the Government's primary disbursing agent; collections agent; accountant and reporter of financial information; and collector of delinquent Federal debt, and performs many of the fundamental cash management functions that were delegated to Treasury when the Department was created by Congress in 1789. While these functions were originally executed by the Register of the Treasury, the Office of the Commissioner of Accounts and Deposits was established in 1920, separating the account-keeping from the Office of the Secretary. The division was renamed the Bureau of Government Financial Operations in 1974, and became FMS in 1984.

Each year FMS disburses in excess of $1.6 trillion as it issues more than 922 million non-defense payments to a wide variety of recipients, such as those who receive Social Security, IRS tax refunds, and Veterans benefits. FMS issues approximately 73 percent of these transactions by electronic funds transfer (EFT), most through the Direct Deposit program, while the remainder is disbursed by check.

FMS is responsible for administering the world's largest collections system, gathering approximately $2.3 trillion annually, $1.8 trillion of which is collected through electronic transactions. It manages the collection of Federal revenues such as individual and corporate income tax deposits, customs duties, loan repayments, fines, and proceeds from leases, and maintains a network of about 10,000 financial institutions to collect these revenues. It also oversees the Federal Government's central accounting and reporting system, keeping track of its monetary assets and liabilities. FMS works with Federal agencies to help them adopt uniform accounting and reporting standards and systems.

FMS gathers and publishes Governmentwide financial information that is utilized by the public and private sectors to monitor the Government's financial status and establish fiscal and monetary policies. It is the Government's central debt collection agency as it manages the Government's non-tax delinquent debt portfolio. FMS uses Treasury's payment systems to identify payments destined to delinquent debtors and applies these monies to offset debts such as Federal education, housing, and business loans and past-due child support obligations. FMS also retains the services of private debt collection agencies and utilizes standard private sector techniques to collect delinquent debts on behalf of agencies.

FMS has about 2,100 employees, one-third of who are located in four Regional Financial Centers (RFCs) in Austin, TX; Kansas City, MO; Philadelphia, PA; and San Francisco, CA; and one Debt Collection Center. The RFCs issue payments by electronic funds transfer (EFT) and paper check, and the Debt Collection Center collects debts older than 180 days on behalf of Federal agencies. All FMS employees, including the Commissioner, are career civil servants. FMS performs its mission with an annual Congressional appropriation of about $228 million.

The FMS Web site is located at http://fms.treas.gov

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