GAO’s Financial Management and Assurance Mission Team
Posted on November 13, 2014
GAO’s workforce is organized largely by subject area, with many of its employees working in 1 of 14 mission teams. Today we’ll be putting the spotlight on the Financial Management and Assurance (FMA) team, which helps improve and transform the government’s financial management and operations.
Reports
FMA issues 3 types of reports and some standards:
- Financial Statement Audits: We annually audit the U.S. Government’s Consolidated Financial Statements and certain agencies’ financial statements, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Federal Housing Finance Agency. The objective of these audits is to provide an opinion on the reliability of financial statements, including the effectiveness of the government’s or agencies’ internal controls over financial reporting. We also identify areas for improvement that are not significant enough to report in the financial statement audit reports, but warrant management attention, as illustrated in our management report on the IRS’s internal controls.
- Department of Defense (DOD) Financial Management: These reports assess DOD’s efforts to address its longstanding financial management issues. Recent reports have covered contract pay, funds management, and audit readiness.
- Government-wide and Civilian Agency Financial Management: Our reports and testimonies in this area includes improper payments, grants accountability, inspector general issues, and financial management issues related to health care, cost accounting, and pension plans.
- Accounting, Auditing, and Internal Control Standards: We establish and maintain a framework for conducting high-quality audits that are essential for management, accountability, and transparency over government programs. Specifically, we maintain the Green Book, which establishes internal control standards for federal agencies. Internal controls help an entity run its operations efficiently and effectively, report reliable information about its operations, and comply with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, we maintain the Yellow Book, which establishes government auditing standards. We also coordinate with regulators and others at the international, federal, and state levels.

Excerpted from GAO-14-60
This raised concerns about the likelihood that the Army would achieve audit readiness as planned.- Questions on the content of this post? Contact Steven Sebastian at sebastians@gao.gov.
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