Examination of Internal Controls at Defense Finance and Accounting Service-Indianapolis Center

GAO commented on its review of internal controls at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Indianapolis Center, relating to the preparation of the Army's financial statements. GAO noted that its reviews disclosed such problems as: (1) a lack of current standard operating procedures for many accounting processes; (2) failure to update and test data editing and validation controls; (3) failure to properly document and test a data retrieval program for extracting financial data from the Headquarters Accounting and Reporting System; (4) unsupported and unreconciled suspense account balances since the mid-1970s; (5) failure to properly document and approve over $250 billion in year-end adjustments, error corrections, and supplemental data; (6) weak data integrity and security controls; (7) failure to implement the Army's standard general ledger; and (8) a limited quality assurance program.