United States Government Accountability Office GAO November 2004 Report to the Secretary of the Treasury _part9 pptx

Appendix I Material Weaknesses, Reportable Conditions, and Compliance Issues Page 133 GAO-05-103 IRS’s Fiscal Years 2004 and 2003 Financial Statements the Highway Trust Fund, incorrect allocations of revenues to states. 4 In July 2003, we made recommendations to IRS for accelerating its certification process. In response to our recommendations, IRS has performed precertifications for the past year to determine the extent to which an acceleration of the process would affect distributions to the trust funds. During fiscal year 2004, IRS continued to lack a cost accounting system (1) capable of accurately and timely tracking and reporting the costs of IRS’s programs and projects to assist it in managing its costs and (2) meeting the JFMIP System Requirements for Managerial Cost Accounting. 5 This condition also renders IRS unable to produce reliable cost-based performance information. IRS officials have indicated that IRS’s records contain the information necessary to enable them to determine the cost of various activities, such as conducting investigations. However, this information is widely distributed among a variety of information systems, which are not linked and therefore cannot share data. This makes the accumulation of cost information time consuming and labor intensive, and thus such information is not as a practical matter readily available as a tool to manage costs. Instead, IRS often finds it necessary to conduct special research tailored to determine the cost of a specific task or project. In its Management Discussion and Analysis, IRS stated that a new cost management system, which includes a cost accounting module, will be a component of IFS. Ultimately, IRS expects this system to timely provide and reliably report cost information that it can use to assist in managing its operations. However, the initial release of IFS that is currently being implemented does not include the underlying cost information in the cost accounting module. To make the module fully operational, IRS must first determine the full range of cost information it needs to support decision making and develop the means to capture and accumulate those costs. 4 The Transportation Equity Act for the 21 st Century, Pub. L. No. 105-178, 112 Stat. 107 (June 9, 1998), enhanced the link between the amount of funds received by states and the amount of tax receipts credited to the Highway Trust Fund by requiring that highway program funds be distributed to states on the basis of annual highway account receipts. 5 Joint Financial Management Improvement Program, System Requirements for Managerial Cost Accounting (Washington, D.C.: February 1998). This is trial version www.adultpdf.com . the amount of funds received by states and the amount of tax receipts credited to the Highway Trust Fund by requiring that highway program funds be distributed to states on the basis of annual. unable to produce reliable cost-based performance information. IRS officials have indicated that IRS’s records contain the information necessary to enable them to determine the cost of various. acceleration of the process would affect distributions to the trust funds. During fiscal year 2004, IRS continued to lack a cost accounting system (1) capable of accurately and timely tracking and reporting