Review of the Department of State's Internal Control Over Cash Receipts and Disbursements

A review was made of the Department of State's internal controls over cash receipts and disbursements at the Foreign Affairs Data Processing Center in Bangkok, Thailand, during 1979. The Center performs automated payrolling, accounting, and disbursing and general recordkeeping functions for State and many other U.S. Government agencies located in South and East Asia and the Pacific.

GAO found that internal controls at the Center could be improved. The principal areas of concern were: (1) the lack of a check to identify abnormally large dollar and local currency transactions for management review; (2) the need for comparison of reports which contain like data extracted from different source files to detect errors in processing; (3) the need for improvement of document control to prevent the loss or duplicate processing of the same transaction; and (4) the need for improvement of internal control over cashier activities. It was also noted that, although the Center is making progress in obtaining needed incountry backup computer support, it is not storing key computer system supporting documentation, such as logic flow charts and system operations manuals, in a secure offsite location.