Department of the Army's First-Year Implementation of the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act

GAO reviewed the Army's efforts to implement and comply with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982.

GAO found that the Army has made progress in complying with the guidelines provided by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for evaluating internal controls. In addition, it has made reasonable efforts to determine the conformance of its accounting systems with the Comptroller General's accounting principles and standards. However, some weaknesses were noted in the processes involved in the first year's internal controls evaluations and accounting system compliance evaluations which need to be corrected. GAO found that some vulnerability assessments are unacceptable according to current Army and OMB criteria. A planned redesign of the Army's internal controls evaluation process with the development of more specific guidance and training should improve the quality and consistency of these assessments. GAO found a wide variance in the quality and documentation of Army internal control reviews. Some were not sufficiently detailed to identify specific control weaknesses or provide a basis for corrective action. In addition, many internal control reviews did not adequately consider automated systems. Lower level managers need more specific training in conducting internal review. Finally, GAO found that the Army needs to do more to judge whether accounting systems fully comply with the Comptroller General's accounting principles and standards.