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AFMD-84-14 1 (1983-11-09)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabnem0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 ACOUINNG AND PINANCIAL MANAGEM Nr DIVISION B-208863 NOVEMBER 9, 1983 The Honorable Caspar W. Weinberger The Secretary of Defense Attention: DOD Office of the Inspector General Deputy Assistant Inspector General for GAO Report Analysis Dear Mr. Secretary: Subject: Improved Internal Controls Are Needed to Better Assure That Obligations Will Not Be Backdated (GAO/AFMD-84-14) This report presents the results of our review conducted at 85 Department of Defense activities around the world for the purpose of determining if existing internal controls were adequate to pre- clude backdating of obligations against expired appropriations. We are pleased to report that at only one location did we find evidence of backdated obligation transactions. We did note, how- ever, a number of internal control weaknesses that need to be cor- rected to provide reasonable assurance that backdating does not occur. Details of our findings and recommendations are in enclo- sure I. One of the primary fiscal controls the Congress imposes when appropriating funds is the establishment of a limited period during which the appropriations will be available for obligation. The recent large increases in Defense appropriations have made it par- ticularly important that the military services adequately ensure that (1) all reported obligations are incurred while the appropria- tions are still available and (2) each obligation is supported by documentation as required by 31 U.S.C. 1501 (formerly known as Sec- tion 1311 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1955). These questions apply particularly to the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) appropriations because they are so large and are available for only one year. To determine if Defense activities were backdating obligation transactions after the end of the fiscal year in order to improp- erly utilize expired fiscal year 1982 O&M funds, we made surprise visits to 85 Army, Air Force, Navy, and Defense activities on Octo- ber 1 and 4, 1982. Twenty-four of the locations visited were (903053)

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