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![handle is hein.gao/gaobabjmu0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20548 9c6
B-87620 March 16, 1979
The Honorable Jack Brooks
Chairman, Committee on Government
Operations
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On January 29, 1979, you requested our~cemments on H.R. 555] a bill
to require us to annually audit the gold held by the United States and
report our findings to the Congress. In a letter to your Committee on
June 28, 1978, we opposed similar requirements that were specified in
H.R. 12781. Our reasons for opposing the latest bill follow.
Under the provisions of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 and
the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950, we have authority to make
comprehensive audits of each executive agency. This authority permits us
to perform audits of financial transactions including but not limited to
accounts of accountable officers of each agency. Within our existing
authority, we have previously evaluated the Bureau of the Mint's
procedures to account for and control the gold reserves and observed the
physical inventories of the gold at Fort Knox, the Government's largest
gold depository. The most recent observation was completed in June 1978
during which we noted no major deficiencies.
We plan to continue observing Treasury's physical inventory of the
gold and applying other audit techniques as necessary to ensure that the
gold stock is properly safeguarded. Additionally, we plan this month to
begin a broad scope survey of the Treasury's financial operations that
were consolidated into one office in the past few years. Its purpose is
to identify problems in accounting system controls that warrant further
review. The survey results will be used as a basis for planning our
future work in evaluating Treasury's physical and accounting controls
of all assets of the United States Government.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobabjmu0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)