Internal Control

The importance of internal controls cannot be overstated, especially in a large, complex organization like the federal government. Internal control is the first line of defense against waste, fraud, and abuse and helps agencies achieve their missions effectively and efficiently. This testimony answers the following three questions: (1) What is internal control? (2) Why is it important? and (3) What happens when it breaks down?

GAO noted that: (1) internal control is concerned with stewardship and accountability of resources consumed while striving to accomplish an agency's mission with effective results; (2) although ultimate responsibility for internal controls rests with management, all employees have a role in the effective operation of internal controls established by management; (3) effective internal control provides reasonable, not absolute, assurance that an agency's activities are being accomplished in accordance with its control objectives; (4) internal control helps management achieve the mission of the agency and prevent or detect improper activities; (5) the cost of fraud cannot always be measured in dollars; (6) in 1982, Congress passed the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act requiring: (a) agencies to annually evaluate their internal controls; (b) GAO to issue internal controls standards; and (c) the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidelines for agencies to follow in assessing their internal controls; (7) more recently, Congress has enacted a number of statutes to provide a framework for performance-based management and accountability; (8) weak internal controls pose a significant risk to the government--losses in the millions, or even billions, of dollars can and do occur; (9) GAO and others have reported that weak internal controls over safeguarding and accounting for government property are a serious continuing problem; and (10) GAO's 1997 high-risk series identifies major areas of government operations where the risks of losses to the government is high and where achieving program goals is jeopardized.