Certificated Expenditures
Executive Office of the President Fiscal Year 2007 Certificated Expenditures Were Used for Authorized Purposes Gao ID: GAO-09-305 February 17, 2009Pursuant to 3 U.S.C. 105(d) and 106(b), we reviewed certificated expenditures from fiscal year 2007 appropriations of the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States. These sections authorize the President and the Vice President to expend appropriated funds for certain specified purposes that may be accounted for solely on their certificates and as they determine, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law. Sections 105(d) and 106(b) also authorize us to examine records related to these expenditures for the purpose of verifying that all such expenditures related to purposes specified in those sections. We are to report to Congress our verification and any amounts not expended for the specified purposes.
This report presents the results of our review of certificated expenditures from funds appropriated for fiscal year 2007 to the President and the Vice President for these specified purposes. Based on the results of our work, we concluded that the certificated expenditures were spent for the purposes authorized under sections 105(d)(1), (3), and (5) and 106(b)(2) and (3), as applicable.
GAO-09-305, Certificated Expenditures: Executive Office of the President Fiscal Year 2007 Certificated Expenditures Were Used for Authorized Purposes
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Report to the Congress:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
February 2009:
Certificated Expenditures:
Executive Office of the President Fiscal Year 2007 Certificated
Expenditures Were Used for Authorized Purposes:
GAO-09-305:
Contents:
Letter:
Certificated President and Vice President Expenditures for Fiscal Year
2007 Were Used for Authorized Purposes:
Scope and Methodology:
Table:
Table 1: Fiscal Year 2007 Certificated Expenditures Covered by GAO's
Review:
[End of section]
United States Government Accountability Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
February 17, 2009:
The President of the Senate:
The Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Pursuant to 3 U.S.C. §§ 105(d) and 106(b), we reviewed certificated
expenditures from fiscal year 2007 appropriations of the President of
the United States and the Vice President of the United States. These
sections authorize the President and the Vice President to expend
appropriated funds for certain specified purposes that may be accounted
for solely on their certificates and as they determine, notwithstanding
the provisions of any other law.[Footnote 1] Sections 105(d) and 106(b)
also authorize us to examine records related to these expenditures for
the purpose of verifying that all such expenditures related to purposes
specified in those sections. We are to report to Congress our
verification and any amounts not expended for the specified purposes.
This report presents the results of our review of certificated
expenditures from funds appropriated for fiscal year 2007 to the
President and the Vice President for these specified purposes.[Footnote
2] Based on the results of our work, we concluded that the certificated
expenditures were spent for the purposes authorized under sections
105(d)(1), (3), and (5) and 106(b)(2) and (3), as applicable.
Section 105(d) of Title 3 of the United States Code authorizes the
President to certificate the expenditure of appropriated funds for
certain purposes. Specifically,
* section 105(d)(1) authorizes appropriations for the "care,
maintenance, repair, alteration, refurnishing, improvement, air-
conditioning, heating, and lighting (including electric lighting and
fixtures) of the Executive Residence at the White House;"
* section 105(d)(3) authorizes appropriations for the "official
entertainment expenses of the President;" and:
* section 105(d)(5) authorizes appropriations for the "subsistence
expenses of persons in the government service while traveling on
official business in connection with travel of the President."
Similarly, section 106(b) of Title 3 of the United States Code
authorizes the Vice President to certificate the expenditure of
appropriated funds for certain purposes. Specifically,
* section 106(b)(2) authorizes appropriations for the "official
entertainment expenses of the Vice President" and:
* section 106(b)(3) authorizes appropriations for the "subsistence
expenses of persons in the government service while traveling on
official business in connection with travel of the Vice President."
Certificated President and Vice President Expenditures for Fiscal Year
2007 Were Used for Authorized Purposes:
Table 1 reflects, by purpose category, the dollar amounts of
expenditures that were certificated by the Offices of the President and
Vice President, respectively, for fiscal year 2007 as reflected in the
underlying accounting records, attested to by an authorized
representative, and verified by us.
Table 1: Fiscal Year 2007 Certificated Expenditures Covered by GAO's
Review:
Purpose: The care, maintenance, repair, alteration, refurnishing,
improvement, air-conditioning, heating, and lighting (including
electric lighting and fixtures) of the Executive Residence at the White
House; (3 U.S.C. § 105(d)(1));
Office of the President: $12,337,476;
Office of the Vice President: $0.
Purpose: The official entertainment expenses of the President and Vice
President; (3 U.S.C. §§ 105(d)(3) and 106(b)(2));
Office of the President: $8,694;
Office of the Vice President: $52,974.
Purpose: The subsistence expenses of persons in the government service
while traveling on official business in connection with travel of the
President or Vice President; (3 U.S.C. §§ 105(d)(5) and 106(b)(3));
Office of the President: $103,325;
Office of the Vice President: $0.
Purpose: Total;
Office of the President: $12,449,495;
Office of the Vice President: $52,974.
Source: The Executive Office of the President.
[End of table]
Based upon the results of our work, we concluded that the fiscal year
2007 expenditures certificated by the Offices of the President and Vice
President were spent for the purposes authorized above.
Scope and Methodology:
To achieve our objective, we:
* identified internal controls we considered to be significant to our
objective, gained an understanding of these internal controls, assessed
the reliability of the underlying accounting records we relied on to
conduct our verification, and based on our assessment, found the
records to be reliable for purposes of achieving our objective;
* determined the total certificated expenditures incurred by the
Offices of the President and Vice President for fiscal year 2007
related to the specified purposes in 3 U.S.C. §§ 105(d)(1), (3), and
(5) and 106(b)(2) and (3) based on underlying accounting records;
* selected a statistical sample[Footnote 3] of fiscal year 2007
certificated expenditures of the Office of the President that related
to the purposes in 3 U.S.C. § 105(d)(1), (3), and (5) and traced them
to underlying supporting documentation, such as invoices, journal
vouchers, and receipts; and:
* traced all fiscal year 2007 certificated expenditures of the Office
of the Vice President and related to the purposes in 3 U.S.C.
§106(b)(2) and (3)[Footnote 4] to underlying supporting documentation,
such as credit card statements and contracts.
On January 13, 2009, we provided a draft of this report to officials of
the Offices of the President and Vice President for their review and
comment. On January 15, 2009, they responded that they agreed with our
findings and conclusions. We conducted our work from October 2007 to
February 2009 in accordance with all sections of GAO's Quality
Assurance Framework that are relevant to our objective. The framework
requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain sufficient
and appropriate evidence to meet our stated objective and to discuss
any limitations in our work. We believe that the information and data
obtained, and the analysis conducted, provide a reasonable basis for
our findings and conclusions.
We are sending copies of this report to the President and Vice
President. This report is also available at no charge on GAO's Web site
at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
We acknowledge and appreciate the cooperation and assistance provided
by the officials in the Offices of the President and Vice President.
Please contact me at (202) 512-3406 or sebastians@gao.gov if you or
your staff have any questions regarding this report. Contact points for
our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found
on the last page of this report. The following GAO staff made major
contributions to this report: Charles R. Fox, Assistant Director;
Jacquelyn N. Hamilton, Deputy Assistant General Counsel; Cara L. Bauer;
Emily M. Clancy; and Patricia A. Summers.
Signed by:
Steven J. Sebastian:
Director Financial Management and Assurance:
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] These expenditures have also been referred to as unvouchered
expenditures. See GAO, Unvouchered Expenditures: Executive Office of
the President Fiscal Year 1991 Expenditures Subject to Audit Were
Proper, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/AFMD-93-63]
(Washington, D.C.: May 17, 1993).
[2] For fiscal year 2007, in the Revised Continuing Appropriations
Resolution, Congress appropriated such amounts as may be necessary, at
the amount appropriated in fiscal year 2006 and under the authority and
conditions provided in the applicable appropriations act for fiscal
year 2006, for the President and the Vice President. See Pub. L. No.
110-5, 121 Stat. 8 (Feb. 15, 2007) and Pub. L. No. 09-115, 119 Stat.
2396, 2472 (Nov. 30, 2005).
[3] We selected a random sample and are 95 percent confident that the
actual error rate associated with the sampling error inherent in
statistical sampling is less than or equal to 1 percent, plus or minus
5 percent.
[4] There were no certificated expenditures for the purpose in 3 U.S.C.
§ 106(b)(3), which is for subsistence expense of persons on official
government travel, in the Office of the Vice President in fiscal year
2007.
[End of section]
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