Federal Reports

This audit provides the results of a review of a coastal restoration project in Louisiana funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, or Fisheries) Office of Habitat Conservation. Our objectives were to determine whether Louisiana’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) (1) complied with award terms and conditions and applicable laws and regulations, (2) met the 15.12 percent matching share requirements, and (3) claimed reasonable and allowable costs under the grant award.

The contracted auditors found that the Department’s FY 2016 Closing Package Financial Statements were presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. However, the auditors identified one material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting. Specifically, transactions valued at more than $30 billion were not properly recorded in the Department’s core financial management system, which resulted in misstatements of more than $600 million (net) to certain account balances reported in the Government-wide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System, as well as the corresponding Reclassified Financial Statements.