United States Government Accountability Office GAO November 2011 Report to the Secretary of the Treasury _part2 potx

Page 11 GAO-12-165 IRS’s Fiscal Years 2011 and 2010 Financial Statements internal control over (1) unpaid tax assessments and (2) information security, as described below. The material weaknesses in internal control may adversely affect decisions by IRS’s management that are based, in whole or in part, on information that is inaccurate because of these deficiencies. In addition, unaudited financial information reported by IRS, including budget information, may also contain misstatements resulting from these deficiencies. The issues constituting these material weaknesses were encompassed in the material weaknesses in IRS’s fiscal year 2011  (1) FMFIA assurance statement to the Department of the Treasury, and  (2) Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. We considered these reported mate rial weaknesses in determining the nature, timing, and extent of our audit procedures on IRS’s fiscal years 2011 and 2010 financial statements. In addition to the material weaknesses in internal co ntrol noted above and described in greater detail below, we identified several deficiencies in internal control related to IRS’s disbursement of tax refunds, which collectively, although not a material weakness, we believe are important enough to be brought to the attention of those charged with IRS governance and which thus represent a significant deficiency in IRS’s internal control. This significant deficiency is also described in greater detail below. Material Weakness in Internal Control over Unpaid Tax Assessments During fiscal year 2011, IRS continued to have a material weakness in internal control over unpaid tax assessments. This material weakness encompasses internal control deficiencies concerning IRS’s (1) inability to rely on its general ledger system for tax transactions and underlying subsidiary records to report federal taxes receivable, compliance assessments, and write-offs in accordance with federal accounting This is trial version www.adultpdf.com . constituting these material weaknesses were encompassed in the material weaknesses in IRS’s fiscal year 2011  (1) FMFIA assurance statement to the Department of the Treasury, and  (2) Management’s Report. Control over Financial Reporting. We considered these reported mate rial weaknesses in determining the nature, timing, and extent of our audit procedures on IRS’s fiscal years 2011 and 2010 financial. because of these deficiencies. In addition, unaudited financial information reported by IRS, including budget information, may also contain misstatements resulting from these deficiencies. The