Government Financial Vulnerability

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO described its planned special audit of 14 federal programs that it believed to be particularly vulnerable to mismanagement, fraud, abuse, and major losses of funds due to poor internal control and financial management systems.

GAO noted that it planned to investigate the: (1) Resolution Trust Corporation's management and disposal of approximately $200 billion to $300 billion in thrift assets; (2) potential for reducing or stabilizing the growth of the Internal Revenue Service's accounts receivable; (3) Customs Service's and the U.S. Marshals Service's management of seized and forfeited assets; (4) extent to which private insurers should pay questionable Medicare claims; (5) underfunding of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation-insured employee benefit plans; (6) effectiveness of bank, federal and state government, and school student loan accounting systems; (7) Department of State's management of overseas real property; (8) Department of Defense's (DOD) inventory management systems; (9) DOD acquisition of major systems; (10) National Aeronautics and Space Administration's decentralized contract administration process; (11) Farmers Home Administration loan program losses; (12) Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) enforcement of private parties' financial responsibilities in cleanups of contaminated sites and EPA oversight and management of cleanup contractors; (13) Urban Mass Transportation Administration's grant application review process and project oversight; and (14) Department of Energy's contractor oversight and award fees.