Financial Management

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on agencies' fiscal years 1997 and 1998 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) remediation plans.

GAO noted that: (1) in their fiscal year (FY) 1997 audit reports, auditors for 20 of the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) agencies reported that the agencies' financial management systems did not substantially comply with FFMIA's requirements; (2) of those 20, 2 agencies--the Department of State and the Social Security Administration (SSA)--did not submit remediation plans to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); (3) State has since contracted for the preparation of a remediation plan to address problems with its financial management systems identified in FY 1997; (4) SSA did not submit a remediation plan to OMB because SSA management determined that its systems were in substantial compliance with FFMIA; (5) however, SSA provided comments, including corrective actions, in response to the auditor's recommendations; (6) in GAO's October 1999 report on agencies' compliance with FFMIA, GAO reported that based on its review of the 18 available remediation plans for FY 1997, it is uncertain whether some of the corrective actions in at least 5 of the plans will resolve the problems that caused the agencies' systems not to be in substantial compliance with FFMIA; (7) seven other remediation plans did not contain key information to adequately assess the plans; (8) for the six remaining plans, GAO determined that, if successfully implemented, the corrective actions may resolve the agencies' problems; (9) in their FY 1998 audit reports, auditors for 21 of the 24 CFO agencies reported that the agencies' financial systems did not substantially comply with FFMIA's requirements; and (10) agencies were to submit remediation plans addressing instances of noncompliance with FFMIA identified in financial statement audits covering FY 1998 to OMB in September 1999.