Financial Management:

Comparison of the Arthur Andersen Study and the Ernst and Young Financial Audit of the National Institutes of Health

AIMD-99-9R: Published: Oct 2, 1998. Publicly Released: Oct 2, 1998.

Additional Materials:

Contact:

Gloria L. Jarmon
(202) 512-4476
contact@gao.gov

 

Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO compared the results of the Arthur Andersen (AA) study of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) operations and the Ernst and Young (E&Y) audit of NIH's fiscal year 1997 financial statements to determine if they contained any conflicting information.

GAO noted that: (1) it compared the two reports and found no conflicting information; (2) rather, the reports were complementary, discussing the need to improve management controls and making recommendations that, if properly implemented, could improve overall financial management of NIH's operations; (3) although the reports did not have the same focus, some of the issues they discussed were similar; (4) the AA study, which was much broader in scope, focused on 17 administrative functions of NIH and their respective costs; (5) these functions included information technology, finance, procurement, property management, intramural and extramural research management, personnel, and budget; (6) for each function, AA discussed in detail related issues, identified best practices, and made recommendations; (7) the E&Y audit focused more on internal controls, compliance with laws and regulations, and issues that may impact NIH's financial statements; and (8) these issues included property, plant, and equipment, grant accrual, the decentralized accounting environment, physical access controls to systems, and grant monitoring.

Feb 14, 2019

Jan 31, 2019

Jan 10, 2019

Dec 7, 2018

Nov 15, 2018

Nov 14, 2018

Nov 9, 2018

Looking for more? Browse all our products here