Approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Payroll System

GAO examined the manual and automated aspects of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Payroll system to determine their consistency with prescribed principles and standards for pay, leave, and allowances of civilian personnel.

GAO approved the system as being in conformance with its prescribed standards, and it noted that the integrity of an on-line system such as the Commission's ultimately rests with the establishment and maintenance of an effective system of access control. GAO found that the Commission has established a reliable system of passwords by which to accomplish this. Strict management oversight must be maintained in this critical area because, if the controls over system access become lax, the integrity of the data residing in the database is compromised. GAO suggest that the Commission's internal auditors periodically review the system in operation to assure that it is in accordance with the approval. At some future time GAO will again examine selected aspects of the system and advise the Commission as to whether it is functioning effectively and in accordance with the approval.