GAO Report on Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for fiscal year (FY) ended September 30, 1999, is supported by the underlying records.

GAO noted that: (1) in performing the agreed-upon procedures, GAO conducted its work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporated financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; (2) these standards also provide guidance when performing and reporting the results of agreed-upon procedures; (3) the procedures GAO agreed to perform include: (a) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the HTF; (b) review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly HTF certifications; (c) review of the Financial Management Service adjustments to the HTF for FY 1999; (d) review of the Office of Tax Analysis process for estimating amounts to be distributed to the HTF for the fourth quarter of FY 1999; (e) comparison of net excise tax distributions to the HTF during FY 1999 and amounts reported in the financial statements prepared by the Bureau of Public Debt for the HTF and the Trust Fund's own financial statements; and (f) review of key reconciliations of IRS records to Treasury records; (4) GAO was not engaged to, and did not, perform an audit, the objective of which would have been the expression of an opinion on the amount of net excise taxes distributed to the HTF; and (5) accordingly, GAO did not express such an opinion.