The U.S. Department of the Interior Needs To Improve Consistency in Implementation of Federal Standards for Accounting and Reporting of Government Land

Title Full

Date Issued

Monday, September 22, 2025

Submitting OIG

Department of the Interior OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Department of the Interior

Components

Bureau of Land Management

Report Number

2023-FIN-038

Report Description

We found that DOI may have misstated its total acres by 82 percent in its FY 2023 AFR.

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

Report updated under NDAA 5274

Open Recommendations

This report has 5 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
2023-FIN-038-02	No	$0	$0
We recommend that PFM develop and implement policies and procedures to provide bureaus with guidance on the treatment for reporting submerged lands.
2023-FIN-038-03	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that PFM develop and implement a process to review supporting documentation and validate Federal land acres reported by bureaus that includes steps to follow up with bureaus when PFM identifies discrepancies or deficiencies.
2023-FIN-038-04	No	$0	$0
We recommend that PFM update Chapter 29, "DOI Land Reporting Policy," to instruct bureaus to develop and document their methodologies for determining predominant use subcategories and include guidance for bureaus to develop and implement systems and processes for capturing and recording acreage information by predominant use subcategories (conservation and preservation, operational, or commercial use).
2023-FIN-038-05	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that BLM provide a detailed listing of Federal land acres that supports the number of estimated Federal land acres reported to PFM.
2023-FIN-038-06	No	$0	$0
We recommend that BLM provide training on SFFAS 59 requirements for classification of predominant use subcategories to all BLM staff entering Federal land acres data.