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GAO-03-246R 1 (2003-03-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaamdv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 March 4, 2003 The Honorable Jo Anne B. Barnhart Commissioner Social Security Administration Subject: Social Security Trust Funds Actuarial Estimates: Internal Control over Projection Process Needs Improvement Dear Ms. Barnhart: The combined Federal Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs, commonly referred to as Social Security, provide protection against loss of earnings due to retirement, death, or disability. During calendar year 2001, the most recent year for which complete data were available at the time of our review, about 46 million people, including 91 percent of Americans age 65 or older, received $432 billion in benefits from the trust funds maintained for these programs. The Board of Trustees' of the trust funds is required to report annually on the current and projected financial status of the Social Security programs to the Congress and the American people The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Office of the Chief Actuary (OACT) provides estimates to the board to assist them in setting demographic, economic, and programmatic assumptions about OASDI's future performance that are needed to prepare long-range and short-range projections of the financial status of the trust funds for the trustees' reports. Based on the board's assumptions, OACT then prepares the projections and the trustees' report for the board. In its 2002 annual report, the Board of Trustees estimated that, under current rules, OASDI expenditures would begin to exceed revenue in calendar year 2017, causing the trust fund to be exhausted in 2041. A wide spectrum of users relies on these projections for a variety of purposes. These include the Congress, which needs reliable information about the Social Security trust funds to make informed decisions about the future funding and benefits of the OASDI programs. Providing decision makers with reasonable assurance about the 'The Social Security Board of Trustees was established under the Social Security Act, as amended, to oversee the financial operation of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds. The Board of Trustees is composed of the Commissioner of Social Security, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and two members of the public, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 2 42 U.S.C. 401(c). GAO-03-246R SSA's Controls over Projections

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