Federal Reports

Report present the results of the audit of the Commission's financial statements for the fiscal year.

Two months ago, we released a white paper entitled Causes of the Postal Service FERS [Federal Employees’ Retirement System] Surplus. The paper was prepared with the assistance of the actuarial firm Hay Group. Hay Group found that the postal surplus in the FERS resulted from differences between Postal Service characteristics and the characteristics of the rest of the federal government and recommended using Postal Service-specific assumptions to measure the FERS liability. Since the release of the white paper, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued its annual estimate of the FERS surplus based on new economic and demographic assumptions adopted in July. We asked Hay Group to update their previous estimate of the surplus using Postal Service-specific assumptions to reflect OPM’s changes.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

ED OIG Semiannual Report 65 Final 508

The United States Capitol Police (USCP or the Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of the Department’s financial statements for the years ended September 30, 2012 and 2011.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

Both the Department and FSA received unqualified (clean) opinions on their FY 2012 and FY 2011 financial statements. However, the audit reports noted a material weakness in internal control surrounding the Department’s Debt Management Collection System and ACS Education Servicing System—the legacy Direct Loan servicing system; found modified repeat deficiencies relating to credit reform estimation, financial reporting processes, and controls surrounding information systems; and reported that the Department’s financial management systems did not substantially comply with certain systems requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act because of the control weaknesses surrounding information systems. A number of recommendations were made to address the weaknesses identified.

Both the Department and FSA received unqualified (clean) opinions on their FY 2012 and FY 2011 financial statements. However, the audit reports noted a material weakness in internal control surrounding the Department’s Debt Management Collection System and ACS Education Servicing System—the legacy Direct Loan servicing system; found modified repeat deficiencies relating to credit reform estimation, financial reporting processes, and controls surrounding information systems; and reported that the Department’s financial management systems did not substantially comply with certain systems requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act because of the control weaknesses surrounding information systems. A number of recommendations were made to address the weaknesses identified.

The Department received a clean opinion on its FY 2012 and FY 2011 special-purpose financial statements. However, like the other financial statement audits, the audit reports included a material weakness related to controls surrounding the Department’s Debt Management Collection System and ACS Education Servicing System, and significant deficiencies related to controls surrounding the credit reform estimation processes and information systems. In addition, the Department’s review procedures failed to identify errors in the reclassified financial statements and in the intergovernmental balances reported.

FISMA

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of Leon Snead & Company, P.C., audited EAC's financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2012, and September 30, 2011.

The OIG performed four agreed-upon procedures, which were requested solely to assist TVA management in determining the validity of the Winning Performance payout awards for the year ended September 30, 2012. In summary, we found:The fiscal year (FY) 2012 Winning Performance goals were properly approved.The actual year to date measures for the September 2012 Strategic Business Unit and Business Unit scorecards agreed with the respective supporting documentation provided.The three actual year to date incentivized measures on the TVA Corporate balanced scorecard were compared to the respective measures on the definition sheets and one exception was found; however, this did not impact the payout. The measures agreed with the respective supporting documentation provided.The FY 2012 Winning Performance payout percentages were provided to the OIG by the Metrics and Performance Analysis organization on October 21, 2012. The OIG was notified on October 30, 2012 of a subsequent change to the actual year to date net cash flow; however, the change did not impact the payout. Summary Only

2012 Financial Statement

Compliance with Laws and Regulations

Internal Control

Our FY 2012 Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) review found that the Department had made progress in addressing issues identified in previous FISMA reviews. Specifically, it was compliant in 3 of the 11 reporting metrics: continuous monitoring, contractor systems, and security capital planning. However, we found that 6 of the 11 security control areas we reviewed—risk management, configuration management, remote access management, identity and access management, security training, and contingency planning—contained repeat or modified findings from OIG and contractor reports issued during the prior 3 years. The remaining two metric areas—incident response and reporting, and plan of action and milestones—contained new findings. Without adequate management, operational, and technical security controls in place, the Department’s systems and information are vulnerable to attacks that could lead to a loss of confidentiality and to a loss of integrity resulting from data modification or limited availability of systems. In addition to recommendations we made in the FY 2011 FISMA report, we made 22 new recommendations to assist the Department in establishing and sustaining an effective information security program.

This report is Sensitive But Unclassified. To obtain further information, please contact the OIG Office of Counsel at OIGCounsel@oig.treas.gov, (202) 927-0650, or by mail at Office of Treasury Inspector General, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC 20220.

Quality Assurance Review of the FLRA OIG Audit Operations

Semiannual Report to Congress

Semiannual Report to Congress

This report summarizes work we initiated and completed during this semiannual period on a number of critical departmental activities. Over the past 6 months, our office issued 11 audit and evaluation reports addressing programs overseen by the Economics and Statistics Administration, International Trade Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the Department itself.

This report summarizes the oversight work performed by EAC OIG during the 6-month period ended September 30, 2012.

During the recent semiannual period, the OIG issued six reports which contained twenty four recommendations based on audits and evaluations performed by OIG personnel. Ten recommendationsrelated to NEA grantees were cleared during this reporting period. We also issued four memoranda to the agency related to NEA grantees which contained four recommendations, all of which the agency implemented. The annual financial statement and FISMA audits are in process and will be completed by their November, 2012 deadlines.

NLRB OIG's October 2012 Semiannual Report