Financial Management

Indian Trust Fund Accounts Cannot Be Fully Reconciled Gao ID: T-AIMD-95-94 March 8, 1995

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has spent four years and $16 million to reconcile Indian trust fund accounts. BIA is requesting $6.8 million for fiscal year 1996 to continue with the detailed reconciliation work. However, it is clear that even if more reconciliation work is done, BIA will not be able to guarantee that trust fund account balances are accurate. This is due to missing lease and accounting records; the inability to verify that all earned revenues were collected, posted to the correct account, and disbursed to the proper party; and the lack of accurate, up-to-date ownership information. Because the Indian trust fund accounts cannot be fully reconciled, Congress may want to consider legislating a settlement process in lieu of continuing to fund BIA's reconciliation effort.

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.

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