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[Comments on Library of Congress' Retention of Unobligated Cooperative Acquisitions Program Fund Balance]

B-271127.2 Published: Jan 30, 1997. Publicly Released: Jan 30, 1997.
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Highlights

The independent auditor of the Library of Congress' fiscal year 1995 financial statements referred the issue of whether the Library should retain $600,000 of the ending balance in its Cooperative Acquisitions Program account that was not needed to cover a liability representing the refund that would have been due if every program participant had cancelled their requests as of the date of the ending balance. GAO noted that the Library should deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts the monies that the Library has received incident to the Cooperative Acquisitions Program, but did not need to fulfill its responsibilities to the program participants who paid such monies, since: (1) the Library was acting as a bailee for the benefit of the program participant; (2) any remaining money represented the portion of the price attributable to the Library's indirect costs and contingencies and as such benefitted the government by reimbursing its costs; (3) the remaining money was money received for the government to be deposited in the Treasury; and (4) the Library did not have revolving fund or similar authority to retain such money.

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Administrative costsBudget authorityBudget receiptsFederal fund accountsLegislative bodiesLibrariesReimbursements to governmentTreasury accountsUnobligated budget balancesOverhead costs