Financial Management: Factors to Consider in Estimating Environmental Liabilities for Removing Hazardous Materials in Nuclear Submarines and Ships
Abstract
Recent laws have enhanced the legislative requirements to provide policymakers and agency program managers with more reliable financial information to formulate budgets, manage government programs, and make difficult policy choices. As a result, because the difficulty of making informed decisions is increased when complete and reliable information on the cost and consequences of government programs and activities is unavailable, these laws have made implementation of new accounting standards and audited federal financial statements a priority. New federal accounting standards have been adopted to enhance federal financial statements by requiring that government agencies show the financial results of their entire operations and provide relevant information on-agencies' true financial status-information that has never before been required in this form. This report discusses one such requirement for valuable information related to the costs of removal and disposal of hazardous materials from federal agencies' property, plant, and equipment such as submarines and ships. The Congress also addressed the concern about the significance of such costs in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, which requires the Secretary of Defense to issue guidance on how to analyze, as early in the acquisition process as feasible, the life-cycle environmental costs for major defense acquisition programs, including the materials to be used and methods of disposal. The lifecycle cost estimates would be required before proceeding toward production of the major acquisition.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 07, 1997
- Accession Number
- AD1175153
Entities
People
- Lisa G. Jacobson
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office