AGA Publishes 2013 Federal CFO Survey Results

CFOs: Something's Gotta Give

Survey on federal financial executives shows struggle to achieve results in the face of increasing requirements and a demoralized workforce

Continuing to provide adequate services in the face of unprecedented across-the-board cuts; a declining, dispirited workforce; and growing financial and other management requirements is the top concern of federal Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), according to the 18th annual Federal CFO Survey conducted by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) in partnership with Grant Thornton LLP.

CFOs crave a clear and consistent framework that helps them set priorities and accomplish goals important to their leadership. Unless a new, focused management agenda is put in place, CFOs fear they can't continue to meet growing requirements in the face of extraordinary challenges.

When asked about their greatest challenges, almost a third of financial executives interviewed and a quarter of those who responded on-line said the services they provide are at risk in the face of growing requirements and declining resources, including people. "Government needs to adjust expectations based on the funding it has. Government can do all the old jobs poorly, or it can do the new jobs well," noted AGA Executive Director, Relmond Van Daniker. He continued, "CFOs cited many serious short- and long-term challenges. However, they are in a position to lead their agencies and the government as a whole to sustainable solutions to these challenges."

Other findings of the survey illuminated the challenges facing CFOs. They met the data quality and reporting challenges of the Recovery Act, but they do not see lasting benefits from those transparency efforts. Internal control activities produce benefits, but their application appears focused on financial reporting rather than program performance. CFOs embraced major Administration initiatives like the Campaign to Cut Waste and Reducing Improper Payments, but because they have to implement the mother-of-all across the board cuts, more mature cost management is lacking.

AGA and Grant Thornton conducted in-person interviews with more than 100 U.S. federal financial leaders and senior leaders of oversight groups such as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Approximately half of these interviewees had job titles of CFO or Deputy CFO; others were direct reports or other financial executives. Almost 200 other federal financial leaders participated in an online survey. Both online and in-person survey instruments included closed and open-ended questions. AGA and Grant Thornton have conducted this survey annually since 1996.

The report is the product of AGA's Corporate Partner Advisory Group (CPAG) research project sponsored by Grant Thornton LLP. The project leader for this research report was Denise Lippuner, CPA.

READ THE REPORT HERE...

Agencies' FY 2015 budget planning 'tied up in knots' by uncertainty

The budget situation for fiscal 2014 is still murky. Funding for the current year runs out Sept. 1, there's no word on a budget or even a stopgap continuing resolution and the across-the-board sequestration cuts are still threatening to gum up the works.

But, believe it or not, agencies are already planning for their 2015 budgets. Preliminary plans are due to the Office of Management and Budget next month.

But with no funding deal in sight for the next fiscal year, how can agencies already be planning for the following year?

"I think it's safe to say, agencies are used to this situation," said Robert Shea, a former OMB official in the George W. Bush administration and now a principal at Grant Thornton in an interview on In Depth with Francis Rose.

Agencies have, by and large, become inured to widespread budget uncertainty, Shea said. For example, last year, there were five stopgap funding measures, which kept government spending afloat in the absence of a full-year budget. The year prior, there were eight.

OMB has also provided exhaustive guidelines for agencies as they plot out their budgets.

In May, the Office of Management and Budget released guidance directing agencies to cut discretionary spending by 10 percent by targeting low-priority programs.

But while it's possible for agencies to plan budget reductions amid so much uncertainty, it's still not an optimal situation.

Congress returns to Washington from its August recess in a few weeks, but House and Senate leaders and appropriators have been mum, so far, on any funding deal that spells out how to deal with sequestration.

Still, even that seems a remote possibility, Shea said. "I hate to be a pessimist, but I think we're likely to see FY '14 and '15 look a lot like '13."

-Jack Moore, FederalNewsRadio.com
READ MORE and LISTEN HERE...

OMB clarifies agency authorities for implementing sequestration cuts

The Office of Management and Budget has directed agencies to take full advantage of the funding flexibilities they have under the law as they implement the automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration, that went into effect March 1.

In an April 4 memo, OMB Controller Danny Werfel also directed agency and department leaders to be mindful of certain types of performance awards and to work with agency inspectors general before making cuts to IG offices.

Many agencies' hands are tied when it comes to implementing the cuts because of their across-the-board nature.

"However, depending on an agency's account structure and any existing flexibilities provided by law, some agencies may have a limited ability to realign funds to protect mission priorities," Werfel wrote.

In fact, the 2013 appropriations bill passed by Congress last month blunted some of the impact of the cuts by shifting funding priorities and, in some cases, granting new increases.

"Agencies with reprogramming or transfer authority should continue to examine whether the use of these authorities would allow the agency to minimize the negative impact of sequestration on core mission priorities," Werfel wrote in the memo.

He told agencies to consider long-term mission goals when making decisions about how to implement the cuts.

The memo reiterated that funding for agencies' independent inspector general offices is subject to sequestration.

"To the extent an agency has discretion in implementing reductions to IG funding due to sequestration, agency heads should be mindful of the independence of the Office of Inspector General and should consult with the IG on a pre-decisional basis on matters that may impact IG funding," the memo stated.

In fact, in cases where IG funding is its own budget line-item (and not "intermingled" with other types of funding), the IGs themselves should be granted the discretion to implement the cuts, Werfel said.

Werfel said the administration continues to urge Congress to eliminate sequestration "as part of a balanced agreement on deficit reduction."

- Jack Moore, FederalNewsRadio.com
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Crisis Budgeting Creates an 'Uncertainty Tax,' Senator Says

The uncounted hours federal employees have spent planning for budget contingencies amid political and fiscal uncertainty reduce agency productivity and lower morale, witnesses told a Senate panel on Wednesday.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing came just as President Obama and the House and Senate Budget committees met on Capitol Hill but made little progress toward a solution to the fiscal stalemate.

“By failing to provide timely, predictable budgets we are generating waste throughout our government and exporting some of that waste to our state and local partners and everyone who relies on us,” said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chairman of the committee.

The absence of timely budgets, he said, creates “an uncertainty tax.”

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., agreed with Carper that the budget crisis is “a bipartisan failure of leadership.” The reason the Senate has not enacted a budget in four years, Coburn said, is that “it has sought not to meet the needs of government but to meet needs of politicians, focusing on the short-term and not the long-term.” The fact that Congress failed to pass all 12 spending bills in 18 of the last 24 years and relied on continuing resolutions, he said, “kills the agencies. It doesn’t allow for judgment or let them do what they’re supposed to do. The inefficiency and the increased cost I would lay at the feet of Congress and the president.”

Routine CRs are “at least as worthy of attention, and may indeed be more damaging, than sequestration or brief government shutdowns,” Philip Joyce, a professor of management, finance, and leadership at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and author of a recent study on the harm from late budgets, testified. “Some of these costs are financial, and some represent inefficiencies and compromised effectiveness for federal programs. All of these negative impacts are self-inflicted, however, and are entirely preventable.”

Budget uncertainty also affects the federal workforce, Joyce added. “People leave government because of lowered morale,” he said, “and they’re not necessarily the ones you want to leave.”

He also noted that despite the Office of Management and Budget’s early prohibition on planning for sequestration for fear of harming productivity, “any rational agency would begin planning given what they could see coming. And once OMB pulled the switch, they went into high gear. But nothing about developing these plans contributes to mission success of these agencies.”

Witnesses’ recommendations for fixing the problem ranged from biennial budgeting, to improved communication with agencies, to banning continuing resolutions or limiting their duration to giving agency budget planners more freedom to move funds around when they arrive late.

Most agreed that wasteful spending can be found to ease the budget stalemate. “Congress doesn’t do a good job of oversight and tends to oversee a crisis but not the operations,” said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska. “Congress doesn’t do enough review of whether this or that program should exist.”

-Charles S. Clark, GovExec.com

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KPMG Publishes 2011 Federal Word Book

Published in 2008, the first edition of The KPMG Word Book: A Directory of Financial Management and IT Acronyms, Regulations, and Terms provided a much-needed resource for individuals navigating the often bewildering maze of acronyms, regulations, and commonly used terms in federal financial and IT management. The response was immediate and enthusiastic among members of government , professional associations, students, academia, the media, and others.


The 2011 KPMG Federal Word Book: A Directory of Federal Financial Management and IT Acronyms, Laws and Regulations, Terms, and Agencies and URLs, published by the KPMG Government Institute, provides an expanded and updated version of the original classic, with some 700 terms, including 140 new entries. It has also been expanded to include a new section, Agencies and URLs – a listing of over 350 executive, judicial, legislative, and independent agencies – in addition to the original three: Acronyms, Regulations, and Terms.


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Download the Word Book Here...

Panel urges Congress to scrap annual budget process

Congress should switch from an annual budget process to a two-year cycle to provide greater stability for federal agencies and conduct better oversight of government programs, lawmakers and witnesses said during a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill.


Democrats and Republicans both expressed support for approving biennial agency budgets, or even multi-year appropriations, to fix what has become a routine, last-minute process of passing continuing resolutions to keep the government operating.

The current process is "no way to run a budget or a federal government," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he used to favor an annual budget process, but the reality is that it's no longer possible to pass 13 spending bills each year in the current environment. "Can you imagine running one of these agencies operating on a continuing resolution for one month, three months, six months?" he asked, rhetorically, in his opening statement. In fiscal 2011, Congress passed 8 stopgap funding measures. Congress last passed all the appropriations bills on time in 1994.

Biennial budgeting would require Congress to enact a two-year budget during its first session, and then focus on oversight of federal programs, authorizing legislation and necessary measures to respond to emergencies or unforeseen events during the second session.

-Kellie Lunney, GovExec.com
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Living With Continuing Resolutions

Continuing resolutions (CRs) are here to stay. Although administrators fear CRs might wreak havoc with agency programs and budget plans, administrators can prepare for CRs to minimize disruption and normalize operations.

The U.S. Constitution requires Congress to pass appropriations bills before federal agencies can spend government monies. The congressional budget process aims to pass these bills before the start of each fiscal year. However,

Congress has not always been able to pass regular appropriations bills on time, and thus developed a temporary appropriation, called a continuing resolution (CR), to fund agencies until their regular appropriations bills are passed.

Congress attempted to address its inability to pass annual appropriations bills on time by changing the start of the federal fiscal year, from July 1 to October 1, in the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act.

The plan worked—for one year. Congress has passed all appropriations bills before October 1 only three times in the 34 years from 1978 to 2011.
 
-Thad Juszak, ThePublicManager.org
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Where is Congress with appropriations?

When Congress returns September 7 from its August recess, at the forefront of its priorities will be the completion of the annual appropriations bills. This is true in any calendar year, given that the federal government's fiscal year begins October 1, but may be especially pertinent this year with the new congressional super committee scheduled to meet.


Where is Congress in passing the 12 major appropriations bills for fiscal 2012 by September 30? They still have a ways to go. So far, the House has passed only six of the bills and the Senate only one.

A graphic representation showing at what stage each bill has reached and the historical trends for "on-time" enactment is provided in the article.


-Kenneth Chambelain, GovExec.com
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Budget chaos reigns: 2012, 2013 plans in disarray in wake of debt deal

Federal financial managers are accustomed to dealing with budget challenges. But rarely have they faced the combination of challenges now heading their way:


• With seven weeks to go before the next fiscal year begins, Congress has not passed any of the dozen spending bills that keep the government operating; and most agencies, if not all, will likely enter the fiscal year under a continuing resolution.

• The Office of Management and Budget has not given any guidance to agencies on how to prepare their 2013 budget submissions, which are due to OMB in only a few weeks. That OMB guidance typically goes out to agencies in June, but it has been sidetracked by uncertainty created by the lengthy and inconclusive debt ceiling negotiations.

Many experts forecast another bruising partisan clash over the 2012 budget — as there was this year over the 2011 budget — that may again threaten the shutdown of some agencies.

-Sean Reill, FederalTimes.com
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After debt deal, agencies face budget uncertainties

Now that a debt ceiling deal is struck, agency financial managers are struggling to figure out their budgets for next year and beyond — and planning for the worst.


With the start of fiscal 2012 less than two months away, many experts expect agencies will have to live under a continuing resolution for at least several months past October; some observers expect the renewed prospect of a government shutdown to emerge from the political standoffs in Congress already being anticipated.

Many federal financial planners are preparing for big cuts. Well before the debt ceiling legislation passed last week, for example, Defense Department officials were running scenarios for absorbing several hundred billion dollars in projected spending cuts over the next decade, said a Navy financial manager who spoke last week on condition of anonymity.


The results will be woven into an adjustment of the Pentagon fiscal 2012 budget request that will likely be ready when Congress returns early next month from its August recess, the manager said. On top of long-term reductions already in place, those contained in the debt ceiling law represent "real dollars, real money and real hurt," he said.

At other agencies, the caps on discretionary spending contained in the legislation will likely keep them focused on belt-tightening already underway.

OMB has not yet issued any 2013 budget guidance to agencies, a spokeswoman said.

At the moment, however, lawmakers aren't even close to wrapping up work on the fiscal 2012 budget. Of the dozen appropriations bills needed to keep the government in business, none has been signed into law. The Republican-run House of Representatives has approved only six; the Democratic-controlled Senate, just one. And one of the largest and most politically charged — legislation to fund the Health and Human Services Department — has not moved in either chamber.

Shutdown scenarios will likely accompany the ensuing budget brinkmanship, Lilly said, with the odds of a deal uncertain. For agencies, he added, the process raises "tons" of uncertainties, such as how much money they will have to obligate for grants and contracts. "It also pushes the bureaucracy to more haphazard decision-making, which ultimately is the way we waste money."


-Sean Reilly, FederalTimes.com
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FedCFO Opinion - Don't Perpetuate the Problem, Fix the Budget and Appropriations Process!

The federal budgeting and appropriations process is broken. Annual appropriations are rarely passed by congress and signed into law in advance of their effective fiscal year as designed. This leads to redundant and unnecessary cycles of reviews and revisions by all stakeholders perpetuating the inefficient process into following years and suppressing the ability of program managers to achieve the desired results of their programs.


The 2011 budget is just one example (this year’s) of this broken process. Currently, the President and OMB, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate are in a heated debate to resolve the political differences in opinion on the appropriations language that is to govern the current fiscal year spending which began October 1, 2010 and ends September 30, 2009. We are nearly half way through the fiscal year in which the appropriation applies. At the same time, the President’s 2012 budget has been submitted to congress for next fiscal year which begins October 1, 2011. Meanwhile, the departments, agencies, bureaus, and commissions that are funded by these eventual appropriations are already hard at work developing budgets for FY2013 without the benefit of guidance and direction derived from the current fiscal year’s appropriation (there isn’t one) nor feedback from the review of the FY2012 budget by congress because they haven’t gotten to it yet. Federal program managers, similarly, are unable to manage their current fiscal year initiatives with any certainty of when funds will become available nor at what level. New initiatives planned for FY2011 are being delayed over and over and will likely not begin until FY2012 - and only then when (if) their appropriation is signed into law. This cycle is almost certain to repeat itself next year as congress is already way behind schedule to review, negotiate, and approve the FY2012 budget because they continue to spend all of their cycles on negotiating the current FY2011 budget. Managing the government by continuing resolution is not an appropriate solution.

Lawmakers, the administration, and program managers would all benefit from an entirely different and more strategic budgeting process in which priorities are established and aligned with the tenure and terms in office of the leadership that will be accountable for the results achieved. At a minimum, two year budgeting is necessary to provide the needed time for congressional review and approval of the president’s budget submissions. A longer four year budgeting process would allow a president to establish priorities for an entire term in office and would redirect the administration’s efforts from budgeting toward managing performance. Annual performance reviews and decision points could be built into the process to provide the necessary congressional oversight and tools for re-prioritization based on current realities that would not require the same amount of overhead expended in an annual budgeting process. Obviously, these types of changes would require significant legislative and possibly constitutional changes to become a reality. However, an investment by congress and the administration of their time to fix the process is much better than expending their time to keep a broken process the reality.

-Doug Davidson, FedCFO.com

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released the following reports, correspondence and testimony:

Understanding the Primary Components of the Annual Financial Report of the United States Government.
GAO-09-946SP, September 2009.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-946SP

Continuing Resolutions: Uncertainty Limited Management Options and Increased Workload in Selected Agencies.
GAO-09-879, September 24.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-879
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09879high.pdf

Troubled Asset Relief Program: One Year Later, Actions Are Needed to Address Remaining Transparency and Accountability Challenges.
GAO-10-16, October 8.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-16
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d1016high.pdf

Troubled Asset Relief Program: Capital Purchase Program Transactions for October 28, 2008, through September 25, 2009, and Information on Financial Agency Agreements, Contracts, Blanket Purchase Agreements, and Interagency Agreements Awarded as of September 18, 2009 (GAO-10-24SP, October 2009), an e-supplement to GAO-10-16.
GAO-10-24SP, October 8.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-24SP

Federal Student Loans: Audits and Reviews of the Federal Family Education Loan and Federal Direct Loan Programs.
GAO-09-992R, September 30.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-992R

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Analysis of Options for Revising the Housing Enterprises' Long-term Structures, by William B. Shear, director, financial markets and community investment, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
GAO-10-144T, October 8.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-144T

Debt Management: Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Should Play a Heightened Role in Addressing Debt Management Challenges.
GAO-09-932, September 29.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-932
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09932high.pdf

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau: Fiscal Year 2010 Proposed Licensing and Registration Fees Program.
GAO-09-1023R, September 28.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-1023R

Federal Contracting: Observations on the Government's Contracting Data Systems, by William T. Woods, director, acquisition and sourcing management, before the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
GAO-09-1032T, September 29.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-1032T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d091032thigh.pdf

Vocational Rehabilitation Funding Formula: Options for Improving Equity in State Grants and Considerations for Performance Incentives.
GAO-09-798, September 30.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-798
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09798high.pdf

Financial Regulation: Recent Crisis Reaffirms the Need to Overhaul the U.S. Regulatory System, by Richard J. Hillman, managing director, financial markets and community investment, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
GAO-09-1049T, September 29.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-1049T

Appropriations Decisions:

B-318588, Department of the Army, Military Surface Deployment and
Distribution Command--Use of Appropriations for Bottled Water,
September 29, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/318588.htm

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released the following reports, correspondence and testimony:



Understanding the Primary Components of the Annual Financial Report of the United States Government.

GAO-09-946SP, September 2009.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-946SP



Troubled Asset Relief Program: One Year Later, Actions Are Needed to Address Remaining Transparency and Accountability Challenges.

GAO-10-16, October 8.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-16
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d1016high.pdf


Troubled Asset Relief Program: Capital Purchase Program Transactions for October 28, 2008, through September 25, 2009, and Information on Financial Agency Agreements, Contracts, Blanket Purchase Agreements, and Interagency Agreements Awarded as of September 18, 2009 (GAO-10-24SP, October 2009), an e-supplement to GAO-10-16.

GAO-10-24SP, October 8.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-24SP


Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Analysis of Options for Revising the Housing Enterprises' Long-term Structures, by William B. Shear, director, financial markets and community investment, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

GAO-10-144T, October 8.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-144T



Continuing Resolutions: Uncertainty Limited Management Options and Increased Workload in Selected Agencies.

GAO-09-879, September 24.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-879
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09879high.pdf



Federal Student Loans: Audits and Reviews of the Federal Family Education Loan and Federal Direct Loan Programs.

GAO-09-992R, September 30.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-992R


Debt Management: Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Should Play a Heightened Role in Addressing Debt Management Challenges.

GAO-09-932, September 29.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-932
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09932high.pdf



Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau: Fiscal Year 2010 Proposed Licensing and Registration Fees Program.

GAO-09-1023R, September 28.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-1023R



Federal Contracting: Observations on the Government's Contracting Data Systems, by William T. Woods, director, acquisition and sourcing management, before the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

GAO-09-1032T, September 29.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-1032T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d091032thigh.pdf



Vocational Rehabilitation Funding Formula: Options for Improving Equity in State Grants and Considerations for Performance Incentives.

GAO-09-798, September 30.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-798
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09798high.pdf



Financial Regulation: Recent Crisis Reaffirms the Need to Overhaul the U.S. Regulatory System, by Richard J. Hillman, managing director, financial markets and community investment, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

GAO-09-1049T, September 29.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-1049T



Appropriations Decisions:

B-318588, Department of the Army, Military Surface Deployment and
Distribution Command--Use of Appropriations for Bottled Water,
September 29, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/318588.htm

AGA's FMSB Comments on GASB Proposal

AGA's Financial Management Standards Board (FMSB) has issued a comment letter to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) on its exposure draft of a proposed statement on Accounting and Financial Reporting for Service Concession Arrangements

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued the following publications:

Presentations By The Acting Comptroller General

1. "Ensuring Accountability in a Time of Financial and Fiscal Stress," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the American Institute of CPAs' National Governmental Accounting and Auditing Update Conference, in Washington, D.C. GAO-09-930CG, August 10, 2009.
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09930cg.pdf

2. "Ensuring Accountability in a Time of Financial and Fiscal Stress," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers' 2009 annual conference, in Dearborn, Michigan. GAO-09-952CG, August 17, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09952cg.pdf

Appropriations Decisions:

B-318386, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service--Steller's and Spectacled
Eiders Conservation Plan, August 12, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/318386.htm

Because considerable conservation efforts over several years have
not halted the decline of two threatened eider species, GAO will
not object to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) proposed
use of appropriated funds to purchase and distribute caps and other
items to residents of Alaska North Slope communities in furtherance
of the agency's eider conservation plan. FWS will print images of
the threatened eiders on these items and, for some items, include
eider conservation messages. The items, which FWS will distribute
as part of agency outreach events, will help residents identify the
threatened species and serve as reminders of the agency's
conservation message.

B-318325, National Indian Gaming Commission--Reimbursing Bicyclists
as Part of the Agency's Transportation Fringe Benefit Program,
August 12, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/318325.htm

Under the federal government's transportation fringe benefit
program, as established by 5 U.S.C. sect. 7905 and Executive Order
No. 13150, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) provides
monthly transit subsidies to employees who certify that they use
mass transit to commute to and from work. NIGC may use its
authority under 5 U.S.C. sect. 7905 to extend the program to
provide a $20 cash reimbursement to those employees who commute to
and from work by bicycle. If NIGC chooses to do so, NIGC should
consider the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.
sect. 132(f)(5), and guidance provided by the Internal Revenue
Service and the Office of Management and Budget.

Other Decisions:

B-317634, Inclusion of Public-Private Partnership Roadways in
Calculating Total Lane Miles When Apportioning Highway Trust Funds,
August 17, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/other/317634.htm

Responding to a request for an opinion from Senator Bingaman,
Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and
Infrastructure, Committee on Finance, GAO has issued an opinion
concluding that the Department of Transportation ("DOT"), in
calculating highway lane miles under 23 U.S.C. § 104(b) as part
of its annual apportionment of highway funds to states, may
properly include mileage for roadways operated or maintained
by private third parties under long-term public-private partnership
agreements with a state (so-called 'P3 agreements')

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued the following publications:

Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request: U.S. Government Accountability Office.
GAO-09-699T, May 21
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-699T

Effect of Personnel Reform on the Federal Aviation Administration's Budget.
GAO-09-645R, May 14.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-645R

Designated Federal Entities: Survey of Governance Practices and the Inspector General Role.
GAO-09-270, April 20.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-270
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09270high.pdf

Foreign Assistance: Measures to Prevent Inadvertent Payments to Terrorists under Palestinian Aid Programs Have Been Strengthened, but Some Weaknesses Remain.
GAO-09-622, May 19
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-622
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09622high.pdf

DOD Business Systems Modernization: Recent Slowdown in Institutionalizing Key Management Controls Needs to Be Addressed.
GAO-09-586, May 18.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-586
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09586high.pdf

Financial Audit: Congressional Award Foundation's Fiscal Years 2008 and 2007 Financial Statements.
GAO-09-652, May 15.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-652

Appropriations Decisions:

B-316860, National Transportation Safety Board--Application of Section
1072 of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (41 U.S.C. sect.
254c) to Real Property Leases, April 29, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/316860.htm

Statutory language authorizing the National Transportation Safety Board to "enter into such contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, and other transactions as may be necessary" to carry out its functions and duties permits the agency to enter into leases of real property. The 1994 recodification of that provision omitting the word "leases" did not change the provision's meaning.

Under 41 U.S.C. sect. 254c, the phrase "acquisition of property" includes leases of real property. Accordingly, agencies with authority to lease real property may enter into contracts for up to 5 years for the lease of real property using fiscal year appropriations if the conditions of 41 U.S.C. sect. 254c are met.

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released the following publications:

Statutory Authorities to Prohibit Inspector General Activities.
GAO-09-660R, May 8.http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-660R

Financial Management Systems: OMB's Financial Management Line of Business Initiative Continues but Future Success Remains Uncertain.
GAO-09-328, May 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-328
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09328high.pdf

Financial Management: Achieving Financial Statement Auditability in the Department of Defense.
GAO-09-373, May 6.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-373

Recovery Act: GAO's Efforts to Work with the Accountability Community to Help Ensure Effective and Efficient Oversight, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, House Committee on Science and Technology.
GAO-09-672T, May 5.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-672T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09672thigh.pdf

Appropriations Decisions:

B-317413, National Science Foundation--Potential Antideficiency Act
Violation by the National Science Board Office, April 24, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/317413.htm

The National Science Board Office's (NSBO) fiscal year 2006
appropriation is not available to fund cost overruns incurred
during performance of a contract that was settled by a modification
to the contract in fiscal year 2007. This settlement represents a
new obligation properly chargeable to fiscal year 2007. NSBO can
correct this improper recording through an account adjustment by
deobligating the amounts that were improperly charged to fiscal
year 2006 appropriations and charging these amounts to the fiscal
year 2007 appropriation. If after NSBO adjusts its accounts it has
insufficient funds in its fiscal year 2007 appropriation, it should
report an Antideficiency Act violation in accordance with 31 U.S.C.
sect. 1351.


Federal Rulemaking: Improvements Needed to Monitoring and Evaluation of Rules Development as Well as to the Transparency of OMB Regulatory Reviews.
GAO-09-205, April 20.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-205
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09205high.pdf

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued the following publications:

Troubled Asset Relief Program: Status of Efforts to Address Transparency and Accountability Issues, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general of the United States, before the Subcommittee on Oversight, House Committee on Ways and Means.
GAO-09-484T, March 19.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-484T

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: GAO's Role in Helping to Ensure Accountability and Transparency for Science Funding, by Patricia Dalton, managing director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, House Committee on Science and Technology.
GAO-09-515T, March 19.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-515T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09515thigh.pdf

Federal Real Property: Authorities and Actions Regarding Enhanced Use Leases and Sale of Unneeded Real Property.
GAO-09-283R, February 17
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-283R

Appropriations Decisions:

B-317450, Antideficiency Act--Applicability to StatutoryProhibitions on the Use of Appropriations,
March 23, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/317450.htm

B-317423, U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach--Use of Appropriated Funds toPurchase Food for Participants in Antiterrorism Exercises,
March 9,2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/317423.htm

B-317098, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General--FederalEmergency Management Agency Subgrantee's Claim under the StaffordAct,
March 13, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/317098.htm

B-310950.2, Updated Rescission Statistics, Fiscal Years 1974-2008,
March 12, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/3109502.htm

GAO's most recent update of statistical data concerning rescissions proposed and enacted since the passage of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The statistics contain proposed and enacted rescissions through fiscal year 2008.

Recent GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released the following reports, correspondence and testimonies:

Business Systems Modernization: Internal Revenue Service's Fiscal Year 2009 Expenditure Plan.
GAO-09-281, March 11.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-281
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09281high.pdf

Troubled Asset Relief Program: Status of Efforts to Address Transparency and Accountability Issues, by Richard J. Hillman, managing director, financial markets and community investment, before the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
GAO-09-474T, March 11.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-474T

Forest Service: Emerging Issues Highlight the Need to Address Persistent Management Challenges, by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations.
GAO-09-443T, March 11.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-443T

VA Health Care: Challenges in Budget Formulation and Execution, by Randall B. Williamson, director, health care, before the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations.
GAO-09-459T, March 12.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-459T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09459thigh.pdf

Medicare: Improvements Needed to Address Improper Payments in Home Health.
GAO-09-185, February 27.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09185.pdf

Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center: Clarifying Rationale for the Research and Development Funding Decisions Would Increase Accountability.
GAO-09-339R, March 12.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09339r.pdf

"Challenges Facing the New Administration and the 111th Congress," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general of the United States, before the JFMIP 2009 Federal Financial Management Conference, in Washington, D.C.
GAO-09-510CG, March 12, 2009.
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09510cg.pdf


Principles of Federal Appropriations Law: Annual Update of the Third Edition
GAO-09-340SP
http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/appforum2009/d09340sp.pdf
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09443thigh.pdf


Appropriations Decisions:

B-317878,United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General-
Implementation of Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act Section 603,
Part 2, March 3, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/317878.pdf

Today's GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the following publications:

Principles of Federal Appropriations Law: Third Edition, Volume III
GAO-08-978SP
http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/d08978sp.pdf

Certificated Expenditures: Executive Office of the President Fiscal Year 2007 Certificated Expenditures Were Used for Authorized Purposes.
GAO-09-305, February 17.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-305

"GAO's Work on Today's High Risk Issues and Long-Term Challenges," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Arizona Society of CPAs, in Phoenix, Arizona.
GAO-09-382CG, February 6, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09382cg.pdf

"Challenges Facing the New Administration and the 111th Congress," by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the AGA 2009 Leadership Conference, in Washington, D.C.
GAO-09-383CG, February 19, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d09383cg.pdf