About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

GAO-03-524R 1 (2003-05-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaamen0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I AmA Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 May 1, 2003 The Honorable Van Zeck Commissioner Bureau of the Public Debt Subject: Bureau of the Public Debt: Areas for Improvement in Computer Controls Dear Mr. Zeck: In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the financial statements of the U.S. government,' we audited and reported on the Schedules of Federal Debt Managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2002 and 2001.2 As part of these audits, we performed a review of the general and application computer controls over key BPD financial systems. The Department of the Treasury is authorized by Congress to borrow money on the credit of the United States to fund federal operations. Treasury is responsible for prescribing the debt instruments and otherwise limiting and restricting the amount and composition of the debt. BPD is responsible for issuing and redeeming debt instruments, paying interest to investors, and accounting for the resulting debt. In addition, BPD has been given the responsibility for issuing Treasury securities to trust funds for trust fund receipts not needed for current benefits and expenses. We use a risk-based, rotation approach for testing general and application computer controls. The data center and each key application is subjected every 3 years to a full-scope review that includes testing in all of the computer control areas defined in the Federal Information System Controls Audit Manual.3 Areas considered to be of higher risk are subject to more frequent review. We performed our work at the BPD data center from April 2002 through October 2002. Our work was performed in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards. We requested comments on a draft of this report from the Commissioner of the Bureau of the Public Debt. The comments are summarized later in this report. As noted above, our review addressed both general and application computer controls. General computer controls are the structure, policies, and procedures that apply to an entity's overall computer operations. General computer controls '31 U.S.C. 331(e) (2000). 2U.S. General Accounting Office, Financial Audit: Bureau of the Public Debt's Fiscal Years 2002 and 2001 Schedules of Federal Debt, GAO-03-199 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 1, 2002). 3U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Information System Controls Audit Manual, GAO/AMD- 12.19.6 (Washington, D.C.: January 1999). GAO-03-524R Computer Controls at BPD Page 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most