Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses (1) how internal control weaknesses make the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Education vulnerable to, and in some cases have resulted in, improper and questionable payments and (2) strategies these and other federal agencies can use to better manage their improper payments. Despite a climate of increased scrutiny, most improper payments associated with federal programs continue to go unidentified as they drain taxpayer resources away from the missions and goals of our government. GAO found that both HUD and Education lacked fundamental internal controls over their purchase card programs that would have minimized the risk of improper purchases. Combined with a lack of monitoring, environments were created at HUD and Education where improper purchases could be made with little risk of detection. One of the most important internal controls in the purchase card process is the review of supporting documentation and approval of each purchase by the approving official. Another control that is effective in helping to prevent improper purchases is the blocking of certain merchant category codes. This control, available as part of the agencies' purchase card contracts with the card …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 11, 2001, represented a major step in the reform efforts of the U.S.'s fourth largest trading partner. When implemented, these reforms will liberalize and modernize China's economy and trading activities, including its industrial, services, and agricultural sectors. However, understanding the implications of China's accession depends on a thorough analysis of the complex terms of China's membership in the WTO. In this initial study, one of several GAO will conduct for the Congress on China-WTO issues, GAO systematically analyzed (1) the scope and types of China's WTO commitments; and (2) the interrelationships among commitments set forth in China's accession agreement. U.S. Trade Representative and other agency officials provided technical and editorial comments on this report, which GAO incorporated as appropriate."