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GAO-19-302R 1 (2019-03-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadvrx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 




c(AO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
441 G St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20548


March 26, 2019

Ms. Kimberly A. McCoy
Commissioner
Bureau of the Fiscal Service
Department of the Treasury
Management Report: Improvements Needed in the Bureau of the Fiscal Service's
Information System Controls

Dear Ms. McCoy:

In connection with our audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government,1
we audited and reported on the Schedules of Federal Debt managed by the Department of the
Treasury's (Treasury) Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) for the fiscal years ended
September 30, 2018 and 2017.2 As part of these audits, we performed a review of information
system controls over key Fiscal Service financial systems that are relevant to the Schedule of
Federal Debt.

As we reported in connection with our audits of the Schedules of Federal Debt for the fiscal
years ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, although internal controls could be improved,
Fiscal Service maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt as of September 30, 2018, based on criteria
established under 31 U.S.C. § 3512(c), (d), commonly known as the Federal Managers'
Financial Integrity Act. Those controls provided reasonable assurance that misstatements
material to the Schedule of Federal Debt would be prevented, or detected and corrected, on a
timely basis. However, during our fiscal year 2018 audit, we continued to identify deficiencies in
Fiscal Service's information system controls that, along with unresolved control deficiencies
from prior audits, collectively represent a significant deficiency in internal control over financial
reporting. Although the deficiencies are not a material weakness, they warrant the attention of
those charged with governance of Fiscal Service.4 Although the significant deficiency in internal
control did not affect our opinion on Fiscal Service's fiscal year 2018 Schedule of Federal Debt,
131 U.S.C. § 331 (e)(2). Because the Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a bureau within the Department of the Treasury,
federal debt and related activity and balances that it manages are also significant to the consolidated financial
statements of the Department of the Treasury (see 31 U.S.C. § 3515(b)).
2GAO, Financial Audit. Bureau of the Fiscal Service's Fiscal Years 2018 and 2017 Schedules of Federal Debt,
GAO-19-113 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 8, 2018).
3A significant deficiency is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting
that is less severe than a material weakness yet important enough to merit attention by those charged with
governance. A deficiency in internal control exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow
management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent, or detect and
correct, misstatements on a timely basis.
4A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such
that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the entity's financial statements will not be
prevented, or detected and corrected, on a timely basis.


GAO-1 9-302R Information System Controls at Fiscal Service


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