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Government Management Reform Act - Audited Financial Statements
There were no material weaknesses cited in the FY 2007 Independent Auditor’s Report. The following table summarizes the significant deficiencies as well as planned actions to resolve them.
SUMMARY OF INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT FINDINGS FY 2007
(Refer to Independent Auditor's Report Section)
| Significant Deficiency |
Planned Corrective Actions |
Target
Completion Date |
| Controls Over the Interagency Reporting Process |
In those cases where other federal agencies whose financial activity is material to USAID’s financial reporting and have not complied with the OMB requirement to provide USAID with correct and timely financial information, USAID will elevate this issue to appropriate levels of management for such agencies to encourage compliance. |
March 31, 2008 |
| Accounting for Loans Receivable |
USAID will prepare a flow chart of the actions and procedures related to debt restructurings involving loan subsidies and write-offs. These procedures will ensure that USAID’s loan service provider does not write-off or move loans from one Note Type to another prior to subsidy being received, apportionment being approved, and funds being paid from one Treasury symbol to another for the loans being restructured and/or written off. In addition, the transaction codes used by the loan service provider will be updated and validated in USAID transaction table. |
March 31, 2008 |
| Reporting on Foreign Currency Information (Repeat Finding) |
USAID has worked with missions to reconcile the Foreign Currency (FC) trust fund (TF) data and record the data in Phoenix. FCTF reconciliations have been completed for each mission except one. This reconciliation allows USAID to extract data directly from Phoenix, eliminating the need for data calls from each mission through the quarterly reporting tool. |
March 31, 2008 |
| Intragovernmental Reconciliations (Repeat Finding) |
USAID typically reconciles and identifies the cause of over 95% of the difference between what it reports and what other federal agencies report for reciprocal transactions such as “transfers to/transfers from”, or “payables to/receivables from”. However, USAID has not been able to significantly resolve and eliminate those differences. USAID will continue to work on reducing these differences consistent with available resources and priorities. |
September 30, 2008 |
| Reconciliations of Fund Balance with the U.S. Treasury (Repeat Finding) |
USAID’s reconciliation process now reconciles over 99% of its cash balances with Treasury. USAID intends to further improve those processes and significantly reduce the differences between its Fund Balance and its cash balance reported by Treasury by the end of FY 2008. As part of the continuing improvements, the CFO has sponsored and directed the development of an automated CAsh Reconciliation Tool (CART). This tool aims at achieving standardization, consistency, internal controls, audit trail and effective reporting of the agency wide processes and results of reconciling fund balance with Treasury. In addition, it ensures identifying, tracking, and addressing any outstanding differences with Treasury on a monthly and cumulative basis. CART was successfully piloted in three missions, and is currently being gradually implemented in all overseas missions and USAID/Washington. |
September 30, 2008 |
Progress Made on Issues From FY 2006 GMRA Audit
USAID has taken extensive and aggressive actions during FY 2007 to address the weaknesses from the FY 2006 audit, as indicated in the table below.
SUMMARY OF INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT FINDINGS FY 2006
(Refer to Independent Auditor's Report Section)
| Material Weakness |
Corrective Actions Taken |
Date Closed |
| Accounting and Reporting of Accruals |
USAID developed a Business Objects Enterprise (BOE) report and determined that the accrual document script is functioning as intended and producing an accurate quarterly Accrual Reconciliation Report. |
July 18, 2007 |
| Accounting and Reporting of Accruals |
Cognizant Technical Officer training material has been updated, a mandatory Web-based course has been developed, standardized forms are available to compute the accrual, and an improved database better identifies training needs. |
September 28, 2007 |
| Reportable Condition |
Corrective Actions Taken |
Date Closed |
| Reconciliations of Fund Balance with Treasury |
USAID reviewed and updated its Cash Reconciliation procedures for consistency with Treasury guidance. Central Accounting and Reporting and Mission Controllers are now required to certify to the Deputy CFO for Washington Operations that Accounting Stations have completed and maintained file documentation fully supporting monthly Treasury Account reconciliations for the twelve month period ending June 30. As of July 31, 2007, all accounting stations have replied to the OCFO that they are performing and documenting monthly cash reconciliations. |
July 31, 2007 |
| Controls Over Treasury Symbol Information |
USAID has drafted written procedures for ensuring accuracy and consistency when appropriation tables and for bi-weekly verification of the data in the tables and has implemented a new procedure for manually processing held interface transactions to eliminate discrepancies in postings to the appropriations when Grant Payment and Grant Advance document pairs are manually processed. |
June 26, 2007 |
| Management’s Discussion and Analysis Data |
USAID staff members serve on Department of State teams that are developing guidance to ensure that Operational Plans meet USAID’s performance management and reporting needs as fully as possible. State Department teams are also working with USAID offices to identify and address other reporting needs that have not been been met. |
August 30, 2007 |
| Noncompliance with Laws and Regulations |
Corrective Actions Taken |
Date Closed |
| Federal Financial Management Improvement Act |
USAID researched differences in Phoenix general ledger accounts closing and corrected all known systemic closing processes. The Phoenix 6.0.10.A upgrade has been installed and includes an enhancement that ensures that all disbursements are posted to open/current accounting periods. |
July 31, 2007 |
| The Anti-Deficiency Act |
USAID issued a policy reminder conveying the importance of proper funds control, including commitment of funds in Phoenix, before incurring any obligations of USAID funds that will ultimately result in claims for payment. |
December 7, 2006 |
| Reportable Condition |
Planned Corrective Actions |
Target
Completion Date |
| Intragovernmental Reconciliations |
USAID cannot implement this recommendation to a greater extent than it does now unless it receives additional resources. Some transactions are entered into Phoenix after processing the SF-224, Statement of Transactions by Appropriation, and these transactions are never reported to Treasury. Some transactions that are not included in the SF-224 reporting should be. However, the amounts of items that are not reported to Treasury on the SF-224 are not material to the financial statements. |
March 31, 2008 |
| Accounting for Foreign Currency Transactions |
USAID has reconciled the Foreign Currency (FC) trust fund (TF) data and recorded the data in Phoenix for each mission except one. This reconciliation allows USAID’s OCFO to extract FCTF data directly from Phoenix, eliminating the need for data calls from each mission through the quarterly reporting tool. |
March 31, 2008 |
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