Internal Controls Over DoD Cash and Other Monetary Assets
Abstract
Our overall audit objective was to assess the internal controls over DoD Statements of Accountability (SOA) and the reporting of Cash and Other Monetary Assets (COMA) on the DoD Agency-Wide financial statements. Overall, DoD did not have effective controls over the reporting of COMA. DoD disbursing officers do not charge an appropriation when they obtain operating cash from the U.S. Treasury, as required by regulations. This has been the DoD practice since the 1950s. As of September 30, 2007, the cash balance held outside of the U.S. Treasury was $2.6 billion. As a result, DoD is increasing the risk of augmenting its appropriations and causing Antideficiency Act violations. DoD disbursing officers continued to obtain large amounts of cash to use in their daily operations. The persistent use of cash by disbursing officers perpetuated the significant administrative costs of using and holding cash and increased the potential for loss of funds. In addition, Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) did not identify and track the number and dollar amount of cash collections and disbursements made by DoD disbursing stations. As a result, DFAS was not compliant with DoD Financial Management Regulation (DoD FMR) provisions that require audit trails to have sufficient detail to trace transactions from DFAS to their source. In addition, DFAS could not provide an audit universe of cash collections and disbursements for internal reviews and independent external audits. DFAS incorrectly posted SOA line items that were not COMA to the DoD Agency-Wide Balance Sheet. As a result, the DoD Agency-Wide Consolidated Balance Sheet overstated COMA by $11.1 million as of September 30, 2007.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 25, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA499304
Entities
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense