TOPICS
TOPICS
Justice officials want new financial system
Top Justice Department officials Wednesday blamed their agency's financial reporting problems largely on the fact that multiple systems control disparate parts of the department's financial data.
Paul R. Corts, Justice's chief financial officer, and Glenn A. Fine, inspector general, told a House Government Reform subcommittee that seven different systems currently hold financial data and that plans for a unified system are under way. Corts said, however, that the unified system could not be implemented without additional funding from Congress.
Justice did not receive a clean audit for its fiscal 2004 statements, and its 2003 clean audit was rescinded based on new information uncovered during 2004. The Office of Justice Programs, which administers grants, received the lowest audit grade, which affected the rest of the department.
Corts said he is unable to access most of the seven financial systems, which prevents his team from exploring data and controls without asking subagencies to provide specific reports. "The big weakness with us is getting the information we need on our own," he said.
He added that the seven systems are outdated and require personnel to manually collect the data, which he called "an inefficient and unsatisfactory way to manage a $22 billion organization."
He said that the new unified system, which would allow him to access the various subagencies' data, is ready to go, except for one problem: Money. "We do not currently have sufficient funds for the integration work required to configure and implement the system," he said.
Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., expressed skepticism: "I get sick and tired of agencies when they foul up to say they're underfunded," he said.
The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., said that although he is not an appropriator, he can voice support for Justice's funding needs.
Corts said he hoped Justice could ultimately save money by implementing a new system. Fine was more cautious, suggesting it would take time before any savings were generated.
Fine and Corts said the accelerated deadline for turning in financial statements to the Office of Management and Budget adversely affected last year's audit, because there was less time to manually clean up problems.
Fine also said he was concerned that contractors were working on financial statements without the proper qualifications, and said the department should work harder to check up on them.
COMMENTS
- Get real Congress! Of course the agencies are underfunded. Congress allowed OMB to require that every government agency report on an accrual accounting basis. This is something no one has ever done and that the auditors (GAO and IGs) know little about. This requirement caused government to spend billions on new systems that "would pass an audit". The auditors are even classifying things as systems when they are standard desk top software used to send infromation electronically. Needless to say these "system" do not comply with audit standards. Also documentation needs to be in writting and not electronic! These new standards being forced by auditors are totally against the directives to increase electronic documentation and communication and to use off the shelf software. Congress better get hold of this demon because it is costing billions of dollars for totally useless information for management of programs. We are now reporting profits based on an accrual accountings system and also have to keep the funds systems based on Congressional appropriations. This is a prime example of fraud, waste and abuse from a Congressional point of view. DoD is wasting billions to develop a system and each of the services is wasting billions for systems and when they are all final the information will be useless to anyone (except the contractors working on the systems). Furthermore, the operators do not know what to do and DoD policies are totally wrong. The finance people have not stepped up to tell the operators the specific information necessary for DoD to prepare proper financial statements! The DoD Financial Management Regulations does not tell operatoprs what is necessary and there are no policies from DoD that assure consistent information across the services. The DoD financial reports are a mix of apples and oranges. taxpayer Posted May 12, 2005 7:10 AM
- "Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., expressed skepticism: "I get sick and tired of agencies when they foul up to say they're underfunded," he said." I believe that the American public reflects a similar position regarding the Congress. Robert M. Posted May 6, 2005 8:28 AM
