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GAO-24-106660 1 (2024-02-15)

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



February  15, 2024


The  President
The  President of the Senate
The  Speaker of the House  of Representatives

Financial Audit: FY  2023 and  FY 2022  Consolidated  Financial  Statements  of the U.S.
Government

This report transmits the results of GAO's audit of the U.S. government's fiscal years 2023 and 2022
consolidated financial statements. GAO's audit report is incorporated on page 218 in the enclosed
Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Report of the United States Government  that the Secretary of the Treasury
prepared  in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

To operate as effectively and efficiently as possible, Congress, the administration, and federal
managers   must have ready access  to reliable and complete financial and performance information-
both for individual federal entities and for the federal government as a whole. Our report on the U.S.
government's  consolidated financial statements for fiscal years 2023 and 2022 discusses progress that
has been  made  but also underscores that much work  remains to improve federal financial management
and that the federal government continues to face an unsustainable long-term fiscal path.1

Our audit report on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements is enclosed. In summary,
we found  the following:

*   Certain material weaknesses2  in internal control over financial reporting and other limitations
    resulted in conditions that prevented us from expressing an opinion on the accrual-based
    consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2023, and
    2022.3 About 48 percent of the federal government's reported total assets as of September 30,
    2023, and approximately  15 percent of the federal government's reported net cost for fiscal year




1As discussed later in this report, an unsustainable long-term fiscal path is a situation where federal debt held by the public
grows faster than gross domestic product (GDP) over the long term.
2A material weakness is a deficiency, or 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. 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.
3The accrual-based consolidated financial statements comprise the (1) Statements of Net Cost, Statements of Operations and
Changes in Net Position, Reconciliations of Net Operating Cost and Budget Deficit, and Statements of Changes in Cash
Balance from Budget and Other Activities, for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2023, and 2022; (2) Balance Sheets as of
September 30, 2023, and 2022; and (3) related notes to these financial statements. Most revenues are recorded on a modified
cash basis.


GAO-24-106660  U.S. Government's 2023 and 2022 Consolidated Financial Statements


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