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B-309267 1 (2008-01-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptavwg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: S=GAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 B-309267 January 15, 2008 Mr. Edward J. Murray Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance Department of Veterans Affairs Washington, D.C. 20420 Subject: Relief ofAccountable Officer at Veterans Affairs Medical Center Dear Mr. Murray: This responds to your request of March 26, 2007, that we relieve Joan C. Jackson, former principal cashier at the Washington, D.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center, for physical losses that occurred in February and March 2001 and January 2003. Letter from Edward J. Murray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance, Department of Veterans Affairs, to Gary L. Kepplinger, General Counsel, GAO, Mar. 26, 2007. At issue here are two losses-one of $3,280 that occurred in 2001 and a second of $123 that occurred in 2003. For the reasons stated below, we deny relief for the loss of $3,280 in patient funds receipts from 2001. In 1991, GAO delegated to agencies the authority to resolve losses of less than $3,000. B-243749, Oct. 22, 1991. Thus, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) may resolve administratively the loss of $123 in patient funds receipts from 2003 in a manner consistent with this decision and our prior decisions. BACKGROUND Joan Jackson was employed as a principal cashier at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (DC VAMC) during a time period in which physical losses were sustained by the patient funds accounts. These accounts contain personal funds that patients turned over to the DC VAMC to be held for safekeeping during the patients' time at the facility. As principal cashier, Ms. Jackson's duties included receiving cash from patients and preparing receipts and deposit slips reflecting the amounts collected. See VA Handbook 4020, 5 (Oct. 17, 1994). Copies of both the receipts and the deposit slips are to be given to the patient, to the accounting department for entry into the agency's Financial Management System (FMS, also called the general ledger), and to the Patient Funds Office for entry into the subsidiary records of patient accounts, known as VISTA. See Memorandum from David L. King, Chairperson, Board of Investigation, Department of Veterans Affairs, to DC VA Medical Center Director, Administrative Report of Investigation of Shortage of Funds at the Washington DC VAM, May 2, 2006 (Board of Investigation Report),

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