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Internal Control: Improvements Needed in SEC's Accounting and Operational Procedures (open access)

Internal Control: Improvements Needed in SEC's Accounting and Operational Procedures

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On November 15, 2006, we issued our report on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) fiscal years 2006 and 2005 financial statements and on SEC's internal control as of September 30, 2006. We also reported on the results of our tests of SEC's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations during fiscal year 2006. The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our fiscal year 2006 audit concerning internal controls and accounting/operational procedures that could be improved. This report contains six recommendations to SEC to improve these internal controls and procedures. These recommendations are in addition to those we already provided to SEC as a result of our prior audits of SEC's financial statements"
Date: April 3, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Managing for Results: Human Capital Management Discussions in Fiscal Year 2001 Performance Plans (open access)

Managing for Results: Human Capital Management Discussions in Fiscal Year 2001 Performance Plans

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Government Performance and Results Act calls for agencies to address human capital in the context of performance-based management. The act requires that annual performance plans describe how agencies will use their human capital to accomplish their goals and objectives. Designing, implementing, and maintaining a strategic human capital management focus are critical to maximizing performance and ensuring that government is accountable to the American people. GAO found that the human capital challenges described in fiscal year 2001 performance plans reflected the different levels of attention agencies are to pay this critical issue. GAO contends that the breadth, depth, and specificity of many related human capital goals and strategies needs to be increased. The plans' discussions of human capital increasingly need to focus on describing human capital challenges. The plans need to specify the what, why, how, and when of the strategies to address those challenges. The discussions should also better link human capital management and the agencies' strategic and program planning to maximize performance and ensure optimal resource allocation. Overall, the fiscal year 2001 plans showed that substantial opportunities exist for goals and strategies as they …
Date: April 24, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Veterans Benefits Administration: Clarity of Letters to Claimants Needs to Be Improved (open access)

Veterans Benefits Administration: Clarity of Letters to Claimants Needs to Be Improved

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provided $23 billion in monthly cash benefits to 3.2 million disabled veterans and their families through its compensation and pension program in fiscal year 2001. In the same year, VBA mailed 1.2 million "notification" letters to veterans and their families, informing them of VBA's decisions on compensation or pension benefits claims filed. VBA also sent 1.2 million "development" letters in fiscal year 2001 requesting information in order to make a decision on claims. VBA found in 1995 that its notification and development letters failed to communicate adequately, and launched an initiative, called Reader-Focused Writing, to improve its written communications. In its letters, VBA clearly explained some, but not all, of the key aspects that claimants needed to understand. Beyond the lack of clarity in these letters, various writing deficiencies, such as sequencing and formatting problems, reduced the value of VBA's letters. First, in many of its rating decision documents and development letters, VBA attempts to achieve more than one objective and, in doing so, compromises clarity for the reader. Second, although VBA's central office and some regional offices have developed boilerplate …
Date: April 23, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Compensation Programs: Perspectives on Four Programs for Individuals Injured by Exposure to Harmful Substances (open access)

Federal Compensation Programs: Perspectives on Four Programs for Individuals Injured by Exposure to Harmful Substances

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. federal government has played an ever-increasing role in providing benefits to individuals injured as a result of exposure to harmful substances. Over the years, it has established several key compensation programs, including the Black Lung Program, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (RECP), and the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP), which GAO has reviewed in prior work. Most recently, the Congress introduced legislation to expand the benefits provided by the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. As these changes are considered, observations about other federal compensation programs may be useful. In that context, GAO's testimony today will focus on four federal compensation programs, including (1) the structure of the programs; (2) the cost of the programs through fiscal year 2004, including initial cost estimates and the actual costs of benefits paid, and administrative costs; and (3) the number of claims filed and factors that affect the length of time it takes to finalize claims and compensate eligible claimants. To address these issues, GAO relied on its 2005 report on four federal compensation programs. As part of that work, …
Date: April 1, 2008
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Internal Revenue Service: Assessment of the Interim Results of the 2006 Filing Season and Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request (open access)

Internal Revenue Service: Assessment of the Interim Results of the 2006 Filing Season and Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) filing season performance affects tens of millions of taxpayers who expect timely refunds and accurate answers to their tax questions. IRS's budget request is a planning tool showing how it intends to provide taxpayer service and enforce the tax laws in 2007. It is also the first in a series of annual steps that will determine whether IRS meets its new long-term goals of increasing tax compliance and reducing taxpayers' acceptance of cheating on their taxes. Tax law enforcement remains on GAO's list of high-risk federal programs, in part, because of the persistence of a large tax gap. IRS recently estimated the gross tax gap, the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they voluntarily pay, to be $345 billion for 2001. GAO assessed (1) IRS's interim 2006 filing season performance; (2) the budget request; and (3) how the budget helps IRS achieve its longterm goals. GAO compared performance and the requested budget to previous years."
Date: April 27, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
South Florida Ecosystem Restoration: A Land Acquisition Plan Would Help Identify Lands That Need to Be Acquired (open access)

South Florida Ecosystem Restoration: A Land Acquisition Plan Would Help Identify Lands That Need to Be Acquired

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the importance of land acquisition to the success of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, focusing on: (1) what the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force did to identify and acquire lands needed to accomplish the goals of the initiative from 1996 through 1999; and (2) what the Department of the Interior did to help ensure that it maximized the acreage purchased--that is, bought as much land as possible, with $200 million in Farm Bill grants."
Date: April 5, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security and Minorities: Earnings, Disability Incidence, and Mortality Are Key Factors That Influence Taxes Paid and Benefits Received (open access)

Social Security and Minorities: Earnings, Disability Incidence, and Mortality Are Key Factors That Influence Taxes Paid and Benefits Received

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although Social Security's benefit and contribution provisions are neutral with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender, concerns about the experiences of minority groups under Social Security focus on whether they benefit less than whites, particularly because of the shorter life expectancy of blacks. These concerns are related to the concept of equity, or how benefits compare with taxes. To gain a thorough understanding of the experiences of minority populations under Social Security, GAO was asked to examine (1) what socioeconomic and demographic factors influence Social Security taxes paid and benefits received and (2) how different equity measures compare across racial groups. Because of the current system's projected actuarial deficit, to conduct this study, GAO made its calculations using three policy scenarios, each of which achieves 75-year solvency: a payroll tax increase and a progressive and proportional benefit cut. Further, GAO used three measures of equity: lifetime benefit-to-tax ratios, net lifetime benefits, and real internal rates of return. GAO also examined four birth cohorts: 1931-40, 1941-45, 1946-55, and 1956-64."
Date: April 23, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Space Activities: Organizational Changes Initiated, but Further Management Actions Needed (open access)

Defense Space Activities: Organizational Changes Initiated, but Further Management Actions Needed

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2001, the congressionally chartered Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization--known as the Space Commission--reported that the Department of Defense (DOD) lacked the senior-level focus and accountability to provide guidance and oversight for national security space operations. Congress mandated that GAO provide an assessment of DOD's actions to implement the Space Commission's recommendations. Thus, GAO (1) updated its June 2002 assessment of DOD's actions to address the Space Commission's recommendations, (2) ascertained progress in addressing other long- term management concerns, and (3) assessed the extent to which DOD has developed a results-oriented management framework for space activities."
Date: April 18, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Acquisitions: Results of Annual Assessment of DOD Weapon Programs (open access)

Defense Acquisitions: Results of Annual Assessment of DOD Weapon Programs

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD's investment in weapon systems represents one of the largest discretionary items in the budget. The department expects to invest about $900 billion (fiscal year 2008 dollars) over the next 5 years on development and procurement with more than $335 billion invested specifically in major defense acquisition programs. Every dollar spent inefficiently in acquiring weapon systems is less money available for other budget priorities--such as the global war on terror and growing entitlement programs. This testimony focuses on (1) the overall performance of DOD's weapon system investment portfolio; (2) our assessment of 72 weapon programs against best practices standards for successful product developments; and (3) potential solutions and recent DOD actions to improve weapon program outcomes. It is based on GAO-08-467SP, which included our analysis of broad trends in the performance of the programs in DOD's weapon acquisition portfolio and our assessment of 72 defense programs, and recommendations made in past GAO reports. DOD was provided a draft of GAO-08-467SP and had no comments on the overall report, but did provide technical comments on individual assessments. The comments, along with the agency comments received on the individual assessments, …
Date: April 29, 2008
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
OCC Preemption Rules: OCC Should Further Clarify the Applicability of State Consumer Protection Laws to National Banks (open access)

OCC Preemption Rules: OCC Should Further Clarify the Applicability of State Consumer Protection Laws to National Banks

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)--the federal supervisor of federally chartered or "national" banks--issued two final rules referred to jointly as the preemption rules. The "bank activities" rule addressed the applicability of state laws to national banking activities, while the "visitorial powers" rule set forth OCC's view of its authority to inspect, examine, supervise, and regulate national banks and their operating subsidiaries. The rules raised concerns among some state officials and consumer advocates. GAO examined (1) how the rules clarify the applicability of state laws to national banks, (2) how the rules have affected state-level consumer protection efforts, (3) the rules' potential effects on banks' choices of a federal or state charter, and (4) measures that could address states' concerns regarding consumer protection."
Date: April 28, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mass Transit: Implementation of FTA's New Starts Evaluation Process and FY 2001 Funding Proposals (open access)

Mass Transit: Implementation of FTA's New Starts Evaluation Process and FY 2001 Funding Proposals

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the implementation of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) New Starts program's evaluation process and fiscal year (FY) 2001 funding proposals, focusing on the: (1) refinements made to FTA's evaluation and rating process since 1999; (2) means by which New Starts projects were selected for FTA's FY 2001 New Starts report and budget request; and (3) impact of FTA's recommendations on its New Starts commitment authority."
Date: April 28, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aviation Finance: Distribution of Airport Grant Funds Complied with Statutory Requirements (open access)

Aviation Finance: Distribution of Airport Grant Funds Complied with Statutory Requirements

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administers the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which provides billions of dollars in federal grants to airports for planning and development projects. The total funds awarded by FAA was consistent with the total amount of AIP funds available for obligation for fiscal years 1996 through 2000. FAA also made available or awarded AIP grant funds in accordance with the statutory formulas and set-asides contained in the authorization acts for the five fiscal years reviewed. In some cases, FAA awarded more funding than required to some airports and projects when it distributed the remaining AIP discretionary funds, which are not subject to statutory formulas or set-asides. GAO also found that small airports received greater amounts than large airports."
Date: April 30, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Responses to Questions Relating to H.R. 3717, Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2002 (open access)

Responses to Questions Relating to H.R. 3717, Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2002

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2002 would change the definition of the reserve ratio for the deposit insurance fund, and provide the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) with the flexibility to set the fund's designated reserve ratio within a range. Current law requires FDIC to maintain the deposit insurance fund balances at a designated reserve ratio of at least 1.25 percent of estimated insurance deposits. If the reserve ratio falls below that level, FDIC's Board of Directors must set semiannual assessment rates that are sufficient to increase the reserve ratio to the designated reserve ratio within a year, or in accordance with a recapitalization schedule of 15 years or less."
Date: April 16, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the United States Olympic Committee for 1999, 1998, and 3-Year Period Ended 1999 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the United States Olympic Committee for 1999, 1998, and 3-Year Period Ended 1999

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the United States Olympic Committee, for 1999 and 1998 and the three-year period ended December 31, 1999. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."
Date: April 27, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Incorporated, for 1999 and 1998 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Incorporated, for 1999 and 1998

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Incorporated, for 1999 and 1998. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."
Date: April 27, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Reports for the Former Members of Congress for 1999 and 1998 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Reports for the Former Members of Congress for 1999 and 1998

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Former Members of Congress for 1999 and 1998. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."
Date: April 27, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aviation Security: Risk, Experience, and Customer Concerns Drive Changes to Airline Passenger Screening Procedures, but Evaluation and Documentation of Proposed Changes Could Be Improved (open access)

Aviation Security: Risk, Experience, and Customer Concerns Drive Changes to Airline Passenger Screening Procedures, but Evaluation and Documentation of Proposed Changes Could Be Improved

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) most visible layer of commercial aviation security is the screening of airline passengers at airport checkpoints, where travelers and their carry-on items are screened for explosives and other dangerous items by transportation security officers (TSO). Several revisions made to checkpoint screening procedures have been scrutinized and questioned by the traveling public and Congress in recent years. For this review, GAO evaluated (1) TSA's decisions to modify passenger screening procedures between April 2005 and December 2005 and in response to the alleged August 2006 liquid explosives terrorist plot, and (2) how TSA monitored TSO compliance with passenger screening procedures. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed TSA documents, interviewed TSA officials and aviation security experts, and visited 25 airports of varying sizes and locations."
Date: April 16, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Technology: Numerous Federal Networks Used to Support Homeland Security Need to Be Better Coordinated with Key State and Local Information-Sharing Initiatives (open access)

Information Technology: Numerous Federal Networks Used to Support Homeland Security Need to Be Better Coordinated with Key State and Local Information-Sharing Initiatives

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A key challenge in securing our homeland is ensuring that critical information collected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) is shared in a timely manner with federal, state, and local governments and the private sector. It is important that federal networks and associated systems, applications, and data facilitate this vital information sharing. GAO was asked to (1) identify DHS and DOJ networks and Internet-based system applications that support homeland security and (2) determine whether DHS efforts associated with its Homeland Security Information Network are being coordinated with key state and local information-sharing initiatives. GAO assessed the coordination between DHS and two key state and local initiatives of the Regional Information Sharing System program."
Date: April 16, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Additional Posthearing Questions Related to Proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Human Capital Regulations (open access)

Additional Posthearing Questions Related to Proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Human Capital Regulations

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On February 25, 2004, Congress heard testimony at a hearing entitled "The Key to Homeland Security: The New Human Resources System." This report responds to additional questions posed by Senator Akaka and Senator Lautenberg."
Date: April 30, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Developing Countries: Achieving Poor Countries' Economic Growth and Debt Relief Targets Faces Significant Financing Challenges (open access)

Developing Countries: Achieving Poor Countries' Economic Growth and Debt Relief Targets Faces Significant Financing Challenges

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, established in 1996, is a bilateral and multilateral effort to provide debt relief to poor countries to help them achieve economic growth and debt sustainability. Multilateral creditors are having difficulty financing their share of the initiative, even with assistance from donors. Under the existing initiative, many countries are unlikely to achieve their debt relief targets, primarily because their export earnings are likely to be significantly less than projected by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). GAO assessed (1) the projected multilateral development banks' funding shortfall for the existing initiative and (2) the amount of funding, including development assistance, needed to help countries achieve economic growth and debt relief targets. The Treasury, World Bank, and African Development Bank commented that historical export growth rates are not good predictors of the future because significant structural changes are under way in many countries that could lead to greater growth. We consider these historical rates to be a more realistic gauge of future growth because of these countries' reliance on highly volatile primary commodities and other vulnerabilities such as HIV/AIDS."
Date: April 14, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Reports for the American National Theater and Academy for Fiscal Years 1998-2000 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Reports for the American National Theater and Academy for Fiscal Years 1998-2000

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed audit reports covering the financial statements of the American National Theater and Academy for fiscal years 2000, 1999, and 1998 to determine if the audit reports complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."
Date: April 27, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Research: Information on DOE's Laboratory-Directed R&D Program (open access)

Federal Research: Information on DOE's Laboratory-Directed R&D Program

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy's (DOE) contractor-operated laboratories perform mission-related research and development (R&D) for DOE and other federal agencies. In 1992, DOE established the Laboratory- Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, under which laboratory directors may allocate funding to scientists to conduct worthy independent research. DOE allows participating laboratories to support their LDRD programs by including a charge of up to 6 percent of the total project cost in the indirect costs for R&D performed for DOE and other federal agencies. GAO was asked to address 11 specific questions on DOE's LDRD program regarding: DOE's statutory authority for charging other federal agencies for LDRD, DOE's policies and procedures for ensuring departmental compliance with statutory requirements and committee report direction, the extent to which DOE believes the LDRD program is a necessary tool for recruiting and retaining laboratory scientists, and the sources and amounts of LDRD funding that each laboratory received from fiscal year 1998 through fiscal year 2003. In commenting on the draft report, DOE agreed with its factual accuracy."
Date: April 30, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Public Diplomacy: Interagency Coordination Efforts Hampered by the Lack of a National Communication Strategy (open access)

U.S. Public Diplomacy: Interagency Coordination Efforts Hampered by the Lack of a National Communication Strategy

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The war on terrorism has focused attention on the important role U.S. public diplomacy plays in improving the nation's image. The United States has undertaken efforts to "win hearts and minds" by better engaging, informing, and influencing foreign audiences; however, recent polling data show that anti-Americanism is spreading and deepening around the world. GAO was asked to examine (1) to what extent U.S. public diplomacy efforts have been coordinated and (2) whether the private sector has been significantly engaged in such efforts."
Date: April 4, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Improper Payments: Federal and State Coordination Needed to Report National Improper Payment Estimates on Federal Programs (open access)

Improper Payments: Federal and State Coordination Needed to Report National Improper Payment Estimates on Federal Programs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past several years, GAO has reported that federal agencies are not well positioned to meet requirements of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA). For fiscal year 2005, estimated improper payments exceeded $38 billion but did not include some of the highest risk programs, such as Medicaid with outlays exceeding $181 billion for fiscal year 2005. Overall, state-administered programs and other nonfederal entities receive over $400 billion annually in federal funds. Thus, federal agencies and states share responsibility for the prudent use of these funds. GAO was asked to determine actions taken at the state level to help federal agencies estimate improper payments for state-administered federal programs and assistance needed from the federal level to support the respective federal agencies' implementation of IPIA."
Date: April 14, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library