Financial Audit

GAO reported on the Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC): (1) financial statements for the years ended September 30, 1985 and 1984; and (2) system of internal accounting controls and compliance with laws and regulations.

GAO found that: (1) CCC did not timely perform accurate reconciliations between its general ledger cash account and its corresponding accounts with the Treasury; (2) CCC adjusted the September 30, 1985, balance in its cash account by $16 million in order to agree with the cash balance the Treasury reported, without identifying all the reasons for the difference; (3) CCC performed the reconciliation incorrectly, which required an additional $36 million adjustment to the cash balance; (4) CCC is as far as 4 months behind in performing two of three supporting reconciliations it must complete before it can reconcile its overall cash balance with the Treasury; (5) the third supporting reconciliation is current for fiscal year (FY) 1985 is was incomplete for FY 1984; (6) CCC had not taken action to resolve all known differences identified in the reconciliations, some of which dated back to FY 1981; (7) the accounting procedures CCC headquarters staff followed were outdated, were not documented, or were not in sufficient detail to be understood and used; and (8) there was no evidence of noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations.