TOPICS
TOPICS
DHS scolded on financial accountability
Homeland Security has yet to fulfill several key requirements of a law designed to prompt stronger financial management, a House lawmaker said Thursday.
The DHS Financial Accountability Act (H.R. 4259), signed by President Bush in October 2004, allows six months for the appointment of a chief financial officer subject to Senate confirmation. But 45 days after that deadline, no candidates have been named, said Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., the act's sponsor.
"My understanding is you've not yet even begun interviewing potential nominees . . . why the delay?" Platts asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at a House Government Reform Committee hearing.
Department officials are aware of the law's requirements and are working to fill the slot, Chertoff responded. "We have a very able CFO on board now," he said. "Of course we know we need to find somebody who is going to ultimately be nominated for a Senate-confirmed position."
There has been "substantial turnover" among the department's top executives, Chertoff noted, and the process of finding replacements can be cumbersome. "First of all, these are challenging jobs," he said. "Sometimes, the people you want for them don't necessarily want to give up their lucrative careers to take them." Background checks take a while as well, Chertoff said.
That process should "pick up," Platts said. "We've [got] laws on the books and agencies just fail to comply with the law, and there's never any consequences. That certainly doesn't work back home when citizens don't comply with the law."
Platts said that he has nothing against Andrew Maner, the current CFO at Homeland Security. The Financial Accountability Act, however, requires Senate confirmation of the CFO to ensure that the position is filled by the "best possible" official, Platts said.
DHS also is stalling on a provision that requires annual audits of the department's internal controls - checks and balances against waste, fraud and abuse - beginning in fiscal 2006, Platts said. The fiscal 2006 budget submitted by the administration would push the deadline for an initial internal controls audit back three years, he said.
Homeland Security officials are "moving forward on this briskly," Chertoff said. In March, Maner created an internal control committee and in May, DHS worked with the Office of Management and Budget to write a guide for implementing the law's provisions. The department's fiscal 2006 budget request also includes $5.2 million, and seeks five extra full-time employees, to help meet the law's provisions.
"It is a challenge," Chertoff acknowledged. "We have a lot of legacy agencies. So we have not only the challenge of meeting a new standard, but also bringing together and binding all the existing legacies."
DHS is the first federal agency legally bound to obtain an audit opinion on internal controls.
COMMENTS
- Chertoff says they can’t get a good candidate. "Sometimes, the people you want for them don't necessarily want to give up their lucrative careers to take them." Let’s look at this realistically. What’s in the offing for the DHS Chief Financial Officer? 1. There’s no departmentwide accounting system. Who knows when Emerge2 will “emerge”. Most legacy accounting systems have never passed a CFO Audit. 2. The financial systems don’t include the personnel systems – and pay is the largest single budget item in the Department. 3. The current CFO Financial Reports and concurrent annual audits do not encourage anyone. Last year the department got a “qualified opinion” on just the Balance Sheet. This year it may be lucky to get a “disclaimer of opinion”. 4. The Congress still is sorting out who in DHS will report to which committees. It will be classic Washington – two years from now a committee will be raising hell with the CFO over an issue that today is considered “no problem” by the current congressional leadership. 5. There already are major conflicts brewing over future spending plans. US VISIT program is in trouble; the Coast Guard has Deepwater; the “minutemen” are raising all kinds of heat on the Border Patrol; homeland security first responder grants are still in limbo; and ICE can’t pay to lock up illegal immigrants they do catch. Add in the rumors that TSA may be privatized and you have lots of “financial” uncertainty. 6. The talent pool keeps shrinking. Smart people are either burning out or leaving before they do. Turnover in the “Management” area has got to be running close to 33% per year, judging by the personnel vacancy announcements. The uncertainties about the future personnel system can’t be helping. So, do you really blame anyone for not wanting to take this job, no matter how much you might get paid? Who wants to risk their professional reputation on this? It will have to get much, much worse, so that whoever comes in will be assured that no matter what they do, some improvement will be noted, and they will be able to leave with their good name intact. GovExec.com reader Posted June 13, 2005 3:44 PM
- Along with ICE Special Agent's comments, the new job announcements for ICE Criminal Investigators that came out as a result of and were specifically addressed in the supplmental legislation begin with the phrase: "The agency is currently operating under hiring restrictions. All positions will be filled subject to the availability of funding." I thought the funding for these jobs and to lift the freeze was specifically enumerated and allocated in the bill... So where's the money? Another unaccountable day in the INS...... GovExec.com reader Posted June 13, 2005 2:30 PM
- You need to understand, the Bush administration does what THEY want, laws, rules, regulations mean nothing to these people. They are having a hard time finding another crook to take the job. But never fear they will find one. Quit finding fault with King George, he likes it like this. GovExec.com reader Posted June 13, 2005 7:06 AM
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