GAO Issues Report Outlining Control Deficiencies in Treasury and OMB (with Lofchie Comment)
The United States Government Accountability Office ("GAO") issued a report finding control deficiencies by the U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") and the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") concerning the preparation of the government's fiscal year 2014 consolidated financial statement. These deficiencies contributed to material weaknesses in internal controls over the federal government's ability to: (i) adequately account for and reconcile intra-governmental activity and balances between federal entities; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that consolidated financial statements were consistent with underlying audited statements and balanced properly; and (iii) provide assurance that the information in the Reconciliation of Net Operating Cost and Unified Budget Deficit and in the Statement of Changes in Cash Balance from Unified Budget and Other Activities was complete and consistent with the underlying information in the audited entities' financial statements.
GAO made three new recommendations to Treasury in order to address the control deficiencies identified during the fiscal year 2014 Consolidated Financial Statements audit.
Lofchie Comment: There seems to be a gap between the performance standards to which the government holds itself and the standards to which it holds private industry. Evidence of this gap can be seen in recent stories of government accounting, information security and technology. This gap has significant implication for society, not the least of which is a greater tendency toward reduced accountability.