Management Report: Improvements Needed in Controls over the Preparation of the U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements.
GAO-12-529, June 27.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-529
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/591936.pdf
DOD Financial Management: Improvements Needed in Prompt Payment Monitoring and Reporting.
GAO-12-662R, June 26.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-662R
Managing for Results: A Guide for Using the GPRA Modernization Act to Help Inform Congressional Decision Making.
GAO-12-621SP, June 15.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-621SP
Recovery Act: Housing Programs Met Spending Milestones, but Asset Management Information Needs Evaluation.
GAO-12-634, June 18.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-634
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/591681.pdf
Federal Real Property: National Strategy and Better Data Needed to Improve Management of Excess and Underutilized Property.
GAO-12-645, June 20.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-645
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/591752.pdf
Health Center Program: Improved Oversight Needed to Ensure Grantee Compliance with Requirements.
GAO-12-546, May 29.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-546
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/591178.pdf
Management Report: Improvements Are Needed to Enhance the Internal Revenue Service's Internal Controls and Operating Effectiveness.
GAO-12-683R, June 25.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-683R
Showing posts with label Asset Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asset Management. Show all posts
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
VA dismisses SAM contractors, suspends project
The Veterans Affairs Department is suspending immediately development of a strategic asset management information technology effort and dismissing the contractors, said VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker.
In a Feb. 28 interview with FierceGovernmentIT, Baker said that the SAM program, the only portion of the Financial and Logistics Integrated Enterprise project to have escaped cancellation in July 2010, will undergo a five-month pause while the VA reexamines its development approach.
Project contractors General Dynamics and Mitre are being terminated for convenience, Baker said. Some governmental staff will be reassigned, he added.
The immediate cause for the suspension is a bad February user acceptance test made ahead of the software's planned March 29 initial deployment to the VA medical center in Milwaukee, Wis., Baker said.
The test marked the "third strike" against under project, which under the VA's new Program Management Accountability System method requires a decision on whether to proceed.
-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
READ MORE...
In a Feb. 28 interview with FierceGovernmentIT, Baker said that the SAM program, the only portion of the Financial and Logistics Integrated Enterprise project to have escaped cancellation in July 2010, will undergo a five-month pause while the VA reexamines its development approach.
Project contractors General Dynamics and Mitre are being terminated for convenience, Baker said. Some governmental staff will be reassigned, he added.
The immediate cause for the suspension is a bad February user acceptance test made ahead of the software's planned March 29 initial deployment to the VA medical center in Milwaukee, Wis., Baker said.
The test marked the "third strike" against under project, which under the VA's new Program Management Accountability System method requires a decision on whether to proceed.
-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
READ MORE...
Monday, December 07, 2009
NASA Still Struggles with Accounting
SAN FRANCISCO — Although NASA failed for the seventh year in a row to receive a passing grade from independent auditors, the U.S. space agency has made significant progress in cleaning up its financial records, Elizabeth Robinson, NASA’s newly appointed chief financial officer, told members of the House Science and Technology Committee during a Dec. 3 hearing.
The major problem preventing auditors from Ernst & Young LLP from approving NASA’s books is the space agency’s difficulty in calculating the value of its two largest assets: the space shuttle and international space station, said Paul Martin, NASA’s new inspector general. That problem was serious enough to be deemed a material weakness because it made it impossible for auditors to determine whether information included in the space agency’s balance sheets was accurate, said Daniel Murrin, a partner in New York-based Ernst & Young.
Space agency officials have been trying to determine the value of NASA’s largest assets for years, a task complicated by the size and scope of the programs, changes in NASA’s financial systems, revised federal accounting rules and the hiring of new teams of auditors. “This tale has gone on for so many years and has so many twists and turns,” Robinson told the panel.
The issue is likely to be resolved in the near future, however, because the agency that issues guidance in this area, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, published new rules in October designed to assist federal agencies, including NASA, in calculating the cost of extremely large assets based on estimates. “The adoption of the new rule provides a unique opportunity for NASA to address the issue,” Murrin said.
In addition, the space shuttle and space station will become less prominent features of NASA’s financial accounts because the programs are nearing completion. At the end of 2009, those two programs comprised approximately 77 percent of the total value of NASA’s property, plants and equipment as well as 38 percent of the space agency’s total assets, Robinson said. Since the shuttle program is scheduled to conclude in 2010, and the space station is on a depreciation schedule that ends in 2016, NASA will not have to account for the cost of those assets much longer, she added.
Nevertheless, NASA’s financial managers are not waiting until the completion of the space station program to clear up their financial records. Instead, NASA officials testifying at the hearing were cautiously optimistic that they would be able to calculate the value of the shuttle and space station programs and obtain a clean bill of health from auditors in 2010.
Robinson also assured the committee that NASA will be better able to evaluate the cost of major assets because the space agency is better able to track financial data. “It is now standard practice in contracts to acquire the accounting information we need,” Robinson said. “Our contractors have felt the burden of giving us all of the data and have worked very closely with us to ensure it is the right data. … We feel like we are on a strong footing.”
Still, NASA financial managers have two other issues to tackle. The Ernst & Young auditors cited deficiencies in NASA’s ability to calculate its environmental liability as well as the space agency’s failure to comply with the Federal Financial Management Act of 1996.
READ MORE...
The major problem preventing auditors from Ernst & Young LLP from approving NASA’s books is the space agency’s difficulty in calculating the value of its two largest assets: the space shuttle and international space station, said Paul Martin, NASA’s new inspector general. That problem was serious enough to be deemed a material weakness because it made it impossible for auditors to determine whether information included in the space agency’s balance sheets was accurate, said Daniel Murrin, a partner in New York-based Ernst & Young.
Space agency officials have been trying to determine the value of NASA’s largest assets for years, a task complicated by the size and scope of the programs, changes in NASA’s financial systems, revised federal accounting rules and the hiring of new teams of auditors. “This tale has gone on for so many years and has so many twists and turns,” Robinson told the panel.
The issue is likely to be resolved in the near future, however, because the agency that issues guidance in this area, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, published new rules in October designed to assist federal agencies, including NASA, in calculating the cost of extremely large assets based on estimates. “The adoption of the new rule provides a unique opportunity for NASA to address the issue,” Murrin said.
In addition, the space shuttle and space station will become less prominent features of NASA’s financial accounts because the programs are nearing completion. At the end of 2009, those two programs comprised approximately 77 percent of the total value of NASA’s property, plants and equipment as well as 38 percent of the space agency’s total assets, Robinson said. Since the shuttle program is scheduled to conclude in 2010, and the space station is on a depreciation schedule that ends in 2016, NASA will not have to account for the cost of those assets much longer, she added.
Nevertheless, NASA’s financial managers are not waiting until the completion of the space station program to clear up their financial records. Instead, NASA officials testifying at the hearing were cautiously optimistic that they would be able to calculate the value of the shuttle and space station programs and obtain a clean bill of health from auditors in 2010.
Robinson also assured the committee that NASA will be better able to evaluate the cost of major assets because the space agency is better able to track financial data. “It is now standard practice in contracts to acquire the accounting information we need,” Robinson said. “Our contractors have felt the burden of giving us all of the data and have worked very closely with us to ensure it is the right data. … We feel like we are on a strong footing.”
Still, NASA financial managers have two other issues to tackle. The Ernst & Young auditors cited deficiencies in NASA’s ability to calculate its environmental liability as well as the space agency’s failure to comply with the Federal Financial Management Act of 1996.
READ MORE...
Thursday, December 03, 2009
VA financial management system: FLITE delayed
The Veterans Affairs department has let the pilot program of a new asset management system slip by two months, just five months since the agency awarded the contract, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. GAO attributed the problems to inadequate staffing and poor program management.
In the report, GAO blamed General Dynamics, the contractor, for falling behind schedule.
The VA awarded the contract for the Strategic Asset Management system in April to General Dynamics in April. The system is one of two major components of VA's Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE), an effort to produce a department-wide integrated financial and asset management system. FLITE is one of the programs that the Office of Management and Budget has designated high risk.
The second component is the Integrated Financial Accounting System (IFAS). VA awarded a program management contract for IFAS to Booz-Allen Hamilton in March, and a pilot for that system is scheduled to begin in 2010.
The VA is the second largest federal agency, with 250,000 employees. The Veterans Health Administration operates 154 hospitals, 995 outpatient clinics, 135 community living centers, 49 residential rehab centers and 232 counseling centers. But it is plagued with inefficient and unstandardized business systems that require repeated manual entries, GAO said.
“VA has for over a decade been pursuing improvements in its business processes and replacement of its existing financial and asset management systems with an integrated financial management system,” GAO said.
The lack of an integrated financial management system has been recognized as a departmental weakness since 1991, and FLITE is the second attempt to provide one. Work on the earlier proposed Core Financial and Logistics System began in 1998 and was scheduled to be completed in 2006, but the agency dropped the program in 2004 when pilot projects revealed it would be unable to support the department’s needs.
Planning for FLITE began in 2005, with full operational implementation scheduled for 2014 at a cost of $608.7 million. As of September, the VA had spent about $91 million on the program.
The department picked the Maximo Enterprise Asset Management software suite from IBM as FLITE’s Strategic Asset Management (SAM) program, and General Dynamics IT was given the contract to implement at pilot in Milwaukee. By September, the contractor had not started 11 of 34 tasks, including a security assessment, and was behind schedule on 16 of the remaining 23 tasks, GAO said.
- William Jackson, GCN.com
READ MORE...
In the report, GAO blamed General Dynamics, the contractor, for falling behind schedule.
The VA awarded the contract for the Strategic Asset Management system in April to General Dynamics in April. The system is one of two major components of VA's Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE), an effort to produce a department-wide integrated financial and asset management system. FLITE is one of the programs that the Office of Management and Budget has designated high risk.
The second component is the Integrated Financial Accounting System (IFAS). VA awarded a program management contract for IFAS to Booz-Allen Hamilton in March, and a pilot for that system is scheduled to begin in 2010.
The VA is the second largest federal agency, with 250,000 employees. The Veterans Health Administration operates 154 hospitals, 995 outpatient clinics, 135 community living centers, 49 residential rehab centers and 232 counseling centers. But it is plagued with inefficient and unstandardized business systems that require repeated manual entries, GAO said.
“VA has for over a decade been pursuing improvements in its business processes and replacement of its existing financial and asset management systems with an integrated financial management system,” GAO said.
The lack of an integrated financial management system has been recognized as a departmental weakness since 1991, and FLITE is the second attempt to provide one. Work on the earlier proposed Core Financial and Logistics System began in 1998 and was scheduled to be completed in 2006, but the agency dropped the program in 2004 when pilot projects revealed it would be unable to support the department’s needs.
Planning for FLITE began in 2005, with full operational implementation scheduled for 2014 at a cost of $608.7 million. As of September, the VA had spent about $91 million on the program.
The department picked the Maximo Enterprise Asset Management software suite from IBM as FLITE’s Strategic Asset Management (SAM) program, and General Dynamics IT was given the contract to implement at pilot in Milwaukee. By September, the contractor had not started 11 of 34 tasks, including a security assessment, and was behind schedule on 16 of the remaining 23 tasks, GAO said.
- William Jackson, GCN.com
READ MORE...
Monday, July 23, 2007
Today's GAO Publications
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following reports:
Federal Farm Programs: USDA Needs to Strengthen Controls to Prevent Improper Payments to Estates and Deceased Individuals. GAO-07-818, July 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-818
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07818high.pdf
Federal Real Property: DHS Has Made Progress, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Address Real Property Management and Security Challenges.
GAO-07-658, June 22.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-658
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07658high.pdf
Hanford Waste Treatment Plant: Department of Energy Needs to Strengthen Controls over Contractor Payments and Project Assets.
GAO-07-888, July 20
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-888
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07888high.pdf
Financial Audit: Significant Internal Control Weaknesses Remain in the Preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the U.S. Government.
GAO-07-805, July 23.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-805
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07805high.pdf
Federal Farm Programs: USDA Needs to Strengthen Controls to Prevent Improper Payments to Estates and Deceased Individuals. GAO-07-818, July 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-818
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07818high.pdf
Federal Real Property: DHS Has Made Progress, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Address Real Property Management and Security Challenges.
GAO-07-658, June 22.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-658
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07658high.pdf
Hanford Waste Treatment Plant: Department of Energy Needs to Strengthen Controls over Contractor Payments and Project Assets.
GAO-07-888, July 20
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-888
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07888high.pdf
Financial Audit: Significant Internal Control Weaknesses Remain in the Preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the U.S. Government.
GAO-07-805, July 23.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-805
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07805high.pdf
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
AGA FMSB Weighs in on Intangible Assets
AGA's Financial Management Standards Board (FMSB) sent a comment letter March 23 to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) on the Exposure Draft of a proposed statement, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Intangible Assets. In the comment letter, the FMSB asked that the GASB consider clarifying terms used in the ED such as “minimal incremental effort” and “nonfinancial nature” and commented on the specified-conditions approach to recognizing internally generated intangible assets.
Read the letter
Read the letter
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