Problems Found in the Financial Disclosure System for Department of Commerce Employees

The special relationship between the Department of Commerce and the Nation's business community calls for unusual attention by Commerce in maintaining a financial disclosure system which will insure that employee financial holdings are effectively reviewed so that the employee, the agency, and the public are protected. Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effectiveness of the financial disclosure system at Commerce, financial interests reported by its employees, and whether other Commerce officials should be filing financial disclosure statements.

The Department of Commerce's financial disclosure system had deficiencies that could have caused it to be ineffective in preventing possible appearances of conflict of interest. The GAO review disclosed that: employees did not file statements when required; some employees that are not required to file financial statements have responsibilities that warrant the filing of a statement; and Commerce had not developed adequate procedures for collecting, processing, controlling, and reviewing statements. In 1975, Commerce employees filed 3,200 financial disclosure statements. A review of 328 of these revealed that 86 employees held 139 interests that give the appearance of conflicting with their assigned duties and responsibilities.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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