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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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