Army's Progress in Implementing the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act

GAO reviewed the Army's compliance with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) to: (1) determine whether actions taken by the Army as a result of FMFIA are improving its internal controls and accounting systems; (2) evaluate the Army's progress in implementing its internal controls and accounting systems; and (3) assess the adequacy of the Army's basis for determining that the requirements of FMFIA have been met.

GAO found that: (1) the commitment of Army managers to the goals of FMFIA is evidenced by the large number of material weaknesses reported by a variety of Army sources; (2) many of the material weaknesses identified by the Army are program- or location-specific; and (3) Army managers appear to be taking corrective actions to correct reported material weaknesses. However, GAO also found that the Army has had difficulties in evaluating compliance with FMFIA because of: (1) inconsistent and unclear field evaluation guidance; (2) the lack of supporting documentation for vulnerability assessments; and (3) its failure to provide guidance on what organizational units should be evaluated. In addition, GAO found that the Army's reviews of its accounting systems were inconsistent and incomplete and did not provide an adequate basis for reporting that certain accounting subsystems were in conformance with the Comptroller General's standards for accounting systems.

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.

Director: Martin M. Ferber Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 275-8412